New York Yankees: Five Yankees that have exceeded expectations

Starlin Castro

It can make anyone feel old to think that Starlin Castro  has been in the bigs now for eight years, and he has emerged as a key piece of the Yankees roster.

Castro was projected to be a .269 hitter with 17 homeruns and 68 RBIs, which like I said for Holliday, would’ve been considered a good year for Castro. But instead of having just a good year, Castro has made 2017 into a great year, at least so far.

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But before getting into stats, just take a second to marvel at how Castro has played in every game this season. That’s not something you can say often anymore, and is an underappreciated stat.

Now onto the stats. Castro through 67 games is hitting .324 with 12 homeruns and 43 RBIs.

His stats now through just over a third of the season have him hitting at a career high clip, only five homeruns and 25 RBIs away from his preseason projection. Castro’s success this year is what baseball saw his potential as in his first two seasons with the Cubs.

Another underappreciated stat for Castro is his .980 fielding percentage. By no means is that going to win him a Gold Glove, but it is on par to what he had in 150 games last year at second, giving him better and more consistent defensive numbers than when he was at short in Chicago.

The best part for Yankees fans when talking about Castro is that he’s now hitting his prime, and will only get better. The 27-year-old found a home in New York and I would expect to see his offensive number stay high like this year and his defensive numbers climb up a little bit. Which makes him a All-Star candidate for the next three to four years.