1. He Was A Leader During The Down Times
Castro has played in the Major Leagues for eight seasons, six of which have come on the North side of Chicago. He played with the Cubs from 2010-2015, which as most Cubs fans can tell you, was a terrible time to watch the Cubs. During his time in Chicago, the Cubs went 443-529 and never finished higher than 3rd in the NL Central. If you take away his last season in Chicago (2015), Castro was never part of a winning team during his time with the Cubs.
Regardless of the fact that Castro had to play with guys like Nate Schierholtz, Micah Hoffpauir, and Ryan Theriot, he never made excuses. Current Cubs manager Joe Maddon only managed Castro one season in Chicago before he was traded but Maddon saw right away what type of player Castro was,
“He was never an excuse-maker,” Maddon stated. “Whenever anything went poorly, he stood tall, I thought. You have to like everything about him.”
I know what most of you are thinking at this point, “Well so what? There’s been a lot of Cubs players who have played on shitty teams that haven’t complained and they don’t deserve any credit. So what makes Castro any different?”
The answer is simple.
