Starlin Castro’s ranking among the all-time Chicago Cubs greats

With Starlin Castro traded to the Yankees, where does he stand among the all-time Chicago Cubs greats? Starlin played six seasons for the Cubs. His 3,524 at bats places him 28th among all Cubs. Therefore, we can use that 28th ranking as a benchmark for his other stats. Anything above 28 would be above what is expected. Anything below 28 would be worse.

Infographic showing Castro's stats for all-time Cubs

Rank:

  • 11th: Ground into double plays
  • 15th: Strikeouts
  • 19th: Caught stealing
  • 22nd: Sacrifice flies
  • 22nd: Hit by pitch
  • 26th: Doubles

28th: At bats

  • 29th: Hits
  • 29th: Singles
  • 32nd: Stolen bases
  • 38th: Games
  • 39th: Homeruns
  • 41st: Triples
  • 42nd: RBI
  • 48th: Runs
  • 71st: Walks
  • 394th: Sacrifice hits

While I’m sad to see the era of Starlin Castro end with the Cubs, he didn’t exactly perform all that great. Castro’s three highest rankings are for ground into double plays, strikeouts, and caught stealing.

He does a smidge better with doubles. His hits and singles are pretty much where they should be for his 28th position in at bats. Then the other offensive stats rather fall down after that.

End result? Castro should be a top-30 Cubs based on the number of his at bats; however, we should remember Starlin Castro as a top-40 Cub. That’s actually quite good for his six seasons aged 20 to 25. We wish Starlin the best of luck with the Yankees. I hope he can end up ranking among the all-time Yankee greats (I say that with a tongue in cheek). As Bleed Cubbie Blue points out, “one thing he’ll have to change with the Yankees is his uniform number. No. 13 is taken — by Alex Rodriguez.”

To be fair with Castro on the SO, GiDP, and Caught Stealing; most modern-day players rank high in those areas. Comparatively you have old-timers that never struck out. Guys with names you never heard of like, like Eddie Zeb Terry and Doc Casey. They stack the Cubs ranking for least strikeouts.

Take a player’s at bat ranking subtract it from their strikeout ranking. Castro’s at bat ranking is 28. His strikeout ranking is 15. That gives him a -13.

Beloved Cubs AB/SO ranking worse than Castro are:

  • Geovany Soto -51
  • Kosuke Fukudome -42
  • Rick Monday -37
  • Ron Cey -36
  • Jody Davis -22
  • Derrek Lee -21
  • Joe Girardi -19
  • Randy Hundley -19

No surprises:

  • Jose Hernandez -59
  • Corey Patterson -44
  • Anthony Rizzo -36
  • Alfonso Soriano -26

But check out how some of the Cubs classics did:

  • Stan Hack 19
  • Mark Grace 12
  • Ernie Banks 3
  • Billy Williams 3
  • Ryne Sandberg 0
  • Gabby Hartnett 0
  • Ron Santo -2
  • Sammy Sosa -6

These are the guys you want to rank up against. And check out Sosa! Sure he’s all-time in strikeouts with the Cubs. But he’s also #7 in at bats. And then some of the Cubs had totally amazing AB/SO ranking ratio:

  • Bill Madlock 136
  • Bill Buckner 122
  • Larry Bowa 118
  • Glenn Beckert 62
  • Bob Dernier 44

For those curious, here are the top 50 Cubs with the most at-bats:

  1. Ernie Banks (1953-1971) 9421 at bats
  2. Billy Williams (1959-1974) 8479
  3. Ryne Sandberg (1982-1997) 8379
  4. Ron Santo (1960-1973) 7768
  5. Stan Hack (1932-1947) 7278
  6. Mark Grace (1988-2000) 7156
  7. Sammy Sosa (1992-2004) 6990
  8. Phil Cavarretta (1934-1953) 6592
  9. Don Kessinger (1964-1975) 6355
  10. Gabby Hartnett (1922-1940) 6282
  11. Frank Schulte (1904-1916) 5837
  12. Joe Tinker (1902-1916) 5554
  13. Billy Herman (1931-1941) 5532
  14. Glenn Beckert (1965-1973) 5020
  15. Charlie Grimm (1925-1936) 4917
  16. Johnny Evers (1902-1913) 4858
  17. Bill Nicholson (1939-1948) 4857
  18. Shawon Dunston (1985-1997) 4570
  19. Woody English (1927-1936) 4296
  20. Aramis Ramirez (2003-2011) 4232
  21. Bill Buckner (1977-1984) 3788
  22. Frank Chance (1901-1912) 3787
  23. Kiki Cuyler (1928-1935) 3687
  24. Heinie Zimmerman (1907-1916) 3661
  25. Billy Jurges (1931-1947) 3658
  26. Andy Pafko (1943-1951) 3567
  27. Jimmy Sheckard (1906-1912) 3530
  28. Starlin Castro (2010-2015) 3524
  29. Derrek Lee (2004-2010) 3514
  30. Johnny Kling (1901-1911) 3493
  31. Riggs Stephenson (1926-1934) 3474
  32. Alfonso Soriano (2007-2013) 3403
  33. Jimmy Slagle (1902-1908) 3394
  34. Jody Davis (1981-1988) 3318
  35. Augie Galan (1934-1941) 3297
  36. Andre Dawson (1987-1992) 3262
  37. Keith Moreland (1982-1987) 3240
  38. Leon Durham (1981-1988) 3215
  39. Hank Sauer (1949-1955) 3165
  40. Randy Hundley (1966-1977) 3158
  41. Hack Wilson (1926-1931) 3154
  42. Dee Fondy (1951-1957) 3055
  43. Solly Hofman (1904-1916) 3046
  44. Max Flack (1916-1922) 3005
  45. Charlie Hollocher (1918-1924) 2936
  46. Jose Cardenal (1972-1977) 2918
  47. Ivan de Jesus (1977-1981) 2900
  48. Vic Saier (1911-1917) 2782
  49. Manny Trillo (1975-1988) 2713 (yes, Manny Trillo is on this list!)
  50. Sparky Adams (1922-1927) 2671

Where would you rank Starlin Castro among the all-time Cubs? Please leave your thoughts on Facebook, Twitter, or in the comments below.

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2 thoughts on “Starlin Castro’s ranking among the all-time Chicago Cubs greats”

  1. Good luck to Starlin Castro and especially good luck to the New York Yankees. I do hope he goes on to be a Hall of Fame player. He’s only 25 and immensely talented.

    However, he’s the type of person that needs motivation every single day. And by that I mean every… single… day. If you’re not on him every… single… day then he gets distracted and under-performs immensely.

    I speak this from experience. Some people are self-motivated and don’t need constant monitoring. Others… not so much.

    It’s going to take a great deal of effort, no an enormous amount of effort, energy and time from the New York Yankees staff to get Starlin Castro to be the player he can be. And that’s why I say I hope he becomes a Hall of Famer, because that means some unsung hero on the Yankees staff put in an incredible effort to keep Mr. Castro focused.

    1. Maybe the Yankees feel up to keeping him focused. I don’t know if the Yankees really are a team that does that. With all their superstars, Castro might get lost in the shuffle. (Do the Yankees even have superstars really?) Maybe that’s the Yankees strength? To be able to manage all these guys? I dunno.

      But the Yankees will have to manage $40M over four years.

      I see this really as a Cubs trade Castro for Zobrist. The Cubs are paying him $56M for four years. (that’s $14M/year). It’s so worth the extra four million to have Zobrist at 2B instead of Castro.

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