Bare-handing a home run ball is hard enough, let alone pulling it off with an infant in one arm.
One Pittsburgh Pirates fan performed this incredible feat during the Pirates’ 8-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night, snagging a Welington Castillo homer over the hands of clamoring home fans.
He didn’t even flinch. Clearly, it takes more to rattle this guy than a baseball headed toward his kid’s head.
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With Miguel Montero and David Ross both available at catcher for the Chicago Cubs, Welington Castillo became surplus to requirements, and the team traded him to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first had the report:
The Cubs went on to confirm the deal via their Twitter account.
Castillo, 28, didn’t exactly make himself indispensable in Chicago, hitting just .163 with two home runs and five RBI in 24 games. In Seattle, he’ll battle with Jesus Sucre to back up starting catcher Mike Zunino, who has had his own struggles this year (.179 with five homers and 11 RBI). Zunino did hit 22 home runs last year and is considered the future at catcher for Seattle.
Sucre is hitting just .067 on the year in six games, so Castillo appears to be an instant upgrade behind Zunino. While Castillo isn’t the best hitter, he hit 13 home runs and added 46 RBI last season for Chicago in 110 games. Seattle won’t need to rely on him that often, however, and it will be glad to upgrade its catching depth.
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