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Luis Castillo is enjoying a breakout season. The Marlins’ second
baseman, still just 24 years old, is hitting .351 with 39 walks in 50 games
for a stellar .461 OBP. That’s sixth in the majors and the highest OBP by a
leadoff hitter. In fact, no second baseman has had a higher OBP in a full
season since Joe Morgan in 1975.

But while Castillo is without peer in terms of setting the table for his
teammates, he is equally without peer in terms of clearing it. Through 50
games, despite a .351 batting average, Luis Castillo has the grand total of
three RBI.

Three. Three in the Marlins’ first 69 games. Castillo is on pace to come to
the plate 552 times this season and drive in seven runs.

The fewest RBI in a single season in history (min: 400 PA):

Name               Year   RBI   PA   AVG/OBP/SLG

Charlie Jamieson 1918 11 473 202/297/238 Enzo Hernandez 1971 12 628 222/295/250 Goat Anderson 1907 12 510 206/343/225 Bud Harrelson 1974 13 412 227/366/266 Billy Werber 1942 13 429 205/308/249 Ivan DeJesus 1981 13 460 194/276/233

(Has there ever been a more apt name for a ballplayer than Goat
Anderson
?)

While their complete inability to drive the ball doomed them this list, it
is interesting to note that all of these players were pretty patient
hitters; only Enzo Hernandez failed to walk in at least 10% of his
plate appearances. It’s possible that as rare as it was for them to get a
hit with runners in scoring position, their willingness to draw ball four
cost them a few RBIs during the season. But not nearly as much as their
inability to slug .270.

But Castillo isn’t slugging .270. His slugging average is .435, and when
you examine the list of the fewest RBIs by a hitter with a slugging average
of at least .400, you get a much different picture:

Name               Year   RBI   PA   AVG/OBP/SLG

Lenny Green 1965 24 427 276/363/429 Frank Baumholtz 1953 25 567 306/359/419 Topsy Hartsel 1903 26 428 311/391/477 Lloyd Waner 1927 27 683 355/396/410 Matty Alou 1966 27 578 342/375/421

(Four other guys had 27 RBI in a season; I listed Lloyd Waner and
Matty Alou because they had the most total bases.)

Matty Alou actually won the batting title that season, though it was an
empty .342 he hit. But Lloyd Waner probably had the most impressive season
ever in terms of RBI futility. He came to bat nearly 700 times and rapped
out 223 hits. But despite playing for the NL pennant-winning Pirates, he
hit for such little power that he was able to drive in just 27 runs.

Lloyd was known as "Little Poison" to his brother Paul’s
"Big Poison," and he certainly was both: he played little ball
and he was poison to his team’s offense. He had to hit .330 to help his
team, something he did early in his career, but by 1940 he was such a
liability that he set the 20th-century record for most hits (43) in a
season with just three RBI. Despite a career average of .316, Waner had a
lower career OBP (.353) and slugging average (.393) than Dave Hollins. He
was voted into the Hall of Fame–by the Veterans Committee–in 1967.

How is Castillo doing it? Anytime such an extreme event happens, a
confluence of circumstances must be involved. In Castillo’s case, it’s a
combination of few opportunities to drive in runners and a horrible
performance when he does get the opportunity.

Take a look at Castillo’s splits:

Situation           AB   H   D  T  HR  RBI   BB   K   AVG/OBP/SLG

No one on 142 60 9 2 1 1 29 20 423/520/535 Man on first 16 2 1 0 0 0 2 5 125/222/188 Scoring Position 33 5 0 0 0 2 8 10 152/317/152

Just seven of Castillo’s 57 hits have come with men on base, and just one
of his 13 extra-base hits. Amazingly, even that extra-base hit, a double
with a man on first base, failed to drive in a run. And somehow–presumably
by beating out infield hits with a runner on second base–Castillo has five
hits with a runner in scoring position…and just two RBIs. Please don’t
try this at home.

In case you’re wondering, Castillo has batted just twice with the bases
loaded. Naturally, he’s 0-for-2.

But as terrible as Castillo’s performance is with runners on base, consider
that only 26% of his plate appearances have come in that situation. Even
for a leadoff hitter in the NL, batting behind the pitcher, that is
unusually low.

Quilvio Veras and Luis Castillo are two of the most similar players
you’ll find in the majors today: they are both switch-hitting second
basemen, they both lead off, they’re both great on-base guys with no punch
and they both steals a lot of bases with mediocre success rates. Veras has
had runners on base for 38% of his plate appearances. Despite a slugging
average of .380, 55 points lower than Castillo, Veras has 23 RBIs.

Why has Castillo had so many fewer opportunities to bat with runners on?
Don’t blame the pitchers: the Marlins’ #9 hitters are batting a combined
.172/.227/.252, about what you’d expect. And the Marlins’ #8 hitters,
mostly Mike Redmond and Paul Bako, are hitting
.258/.336/.317. So who is to blame? Perhaps the team’s primary #7 hitter,
Alex Gonzalez, who is hitting a staggering .167/.212/.251, one of
the worst performances by any hitter in recent times. Overall, the Marlins’
#7 hitters are batting .219/.257/.306.

The fewest RBI in history by any player with 60 or more hits:

Name            Year    H   RBI

Luis Castillo 2000 67 3 Dick Howser 1965 72 6 Ollie O'Mara 1914 65 7 Maury Wills 1959 63 7 Davy Force 1879 66 8 Doc Gautreau 1926 71 8 Luis Castillo 1997 63 8

As you see, this is nothing new for Castillo. Clearly, he despises the RBI.
Hmmm…is it possible he’s a closet stathead?

Rany Jazayerli, M.D., can be reached at ranyj@baseballprospectus.com.

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