Chicago Cubs' Starlin Castro to address the slump in batting average – MLB News
As the Chicago Cubs will play their four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, August 9 as the shortstop Starlin Castro said on Wednesday that he wants to finish the season strong. Things have not been going particularly well for the shortstop this season.
For instance, the last two seasons that he played ended with his .300 batting average. However, as the 2012 season is nearing end, Castro is not faring very well, and his batting average is hovering at career-low .272.
Be that as it may, Castro vows he will end the season strong for the reasons that he deems critical.
"I want to finish strong," Castro said. "Every [season], I finish strong. Every time, I put it in my mind that the last month, if you don't finish strong, my family doesn't eat. I put that in my mind. I need my family to eat these two months, like they eat in the first four months. I put that in my mind all the time. I'll do it for sure."
That which should not be forgotten is the fact that so long as Rudy Jaramillo stayed as the team’s hitting coach, Castro was hitting .308 in the 60 games. But ever since the hitting coach was dismissed, in the 40 games, Castro has a .226 average.
Nonetheless, the shortstop strongly maintains that it is not the hitting coach James Rowson who is to be blamed for this. In Castro’s view, Rowson is as good as Rudy.
On the other hand, the team manager Dale Sveum has his own perspective on it.
“There's so much movement going on, it's going to be hard to be consistent. He has to narrow things down to be able to use his hand-eye coordination,” said Dale Sveum.
Consistency has been a trait of the player. But the recent slump being witnessed is something that both his hitting coach and he himself have to address. Castro, after all, remains a strong part of the Cubs’ offence with his magnificent performances throughout these years despite all the odds that have come the team’s way.
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