Mexico has produced its fair share of quality major leaguers.
Fernando Valenzuela, Adrian Gonzalez, Karim Garcia, Joakim Soria and Julio Urias are some of the best from the country.
You can go ahead and add former Colorado Rockies star Vinny Castilla to that group.
The Rox sent Castilla their congratulations after a very cool achievement in his native country.
“Congrats to Vinny Castilla for being inducted into the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame!” they tweeted.
Congrats to Vinny Castilla for being inducted into the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame!👏 pic.twitter.com/9OlV8Gsers
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) November 15, 2022
Castilla’s contributions are now officially recognized by Mexico’s Hall of Fame.
The third baseman was one of the members of the famous “Blake Street Bombers”.
Together with fellow sluggers Andres Galarraga, Larry Walker, Dante Bichette, and Ellis Burks, Castilla terrorized opposing pitchers in the mid-to-late 1990s.
From 1995 to 1999, his lowest home run output was 32.
In those five years, he hit 191 round-trippers, more than half of his career output.
A Brilliant Career
Not only that, but he was also one of the best defensive third basemen of his day.
Castilla’s career includes two All-Star berths (1995, 1998), three Silver Slugger Awards (1995, 1997, 1998) and an RBI crown in 2004 at 36 years old.
He played with six different MLB organizations and finished with a .276 batting average, 320 home runs, and 1,105 RBI: excellent numbers that any player would dream about.
Castilla is currently an assistant to the Rockies’ general manager.
Fans loved him in Colorado.
He is admired in his native Mexico, too, where he is still the all-time leader in home runs.
In that 1995-99 run, he averaged 38 home runs and 112 RBI.
Castilla was also brilliant in the playoffs, hitting .350 with five homers and 12 RBI.
Castilla has given Mexico and the Rockies so much that he deserves every recognition and award he gets.
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