John Anthony Castino (born October 23, 1954) is an American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player. Castino played as an

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

, primarily at

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and

second base In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the infield, between second and first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and feet, needs the ability to get rid of the ball quickly, and must ...

, with the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

from 1979 through 1984.

Professional career

Castino graduated from

New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school whose main campus for sophomores through seniors is in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, with a campus in Northfield, Illinois, for ...

in Winnetka, Illinois. Castino attended and played baseball for

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

, in

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 29,795 according to the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Orlando, Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was foun ...

. He is considered the best player in Rollins history. Castino was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 1976 amateur draft. Castino made his major league debut with the Twins on April 6, 1979. He played well and ended the season with a .285

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

and 112

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

in 148 games. His performance led him to be voted as Rookie of the Year, along with

Alfredo Griffin Alfredo Claudino Baptist Read Griffin (born October 6, 1957) is a Dominican former professional baseball player. He played shortstop in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four teams from 1976 to 1993. Playing career Griffin began his career as a ...

, whom he tied in voting. The next season, Castino hit a career-high .302, and the year after that he led the American League with 9 triples. A good fielder, he switched to second base in 1982 and led the league's second basemen in

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

that year. However, Castino started to suffer from chronic

back pain Back pain (Latin: ''dorsalgia'') is pain felt in the back. It may be classified as neck pain (cervical), middle back pain (thoracic), lower back pain (lumbar) or coccydynia (tailbone or sacral pain) based on the segment affected. The lumbar area ...

, and his career was cut short in 1984 by a fused disc in his back."John Castino Biography"
. ''baseballlibrary.com''. Retrieved 2010-10-31. He played his final game with the Twins on May 7, 1984; after years of back problems, he further damaged his back running hard from third on a sacrifice fly, scoring the final run in the ninth inning of an 11-1 Twins victory. After his baseball career ended, Castino went back to college to get his degree and later became an investment advisor. In 2010, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in Minnesota Twins history.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castino, John 1954 births Living people Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball third basemen Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners Minnesota Twins players Wisconsin Rapids Twins players Orlando Twins players New Trier High School alumni Rollins Tars baseball players Baseball players from Evanston, Illinois 20th-century American sportsmen

Professional career

See also

References

External links