As the Minnesota Twins continue to roll toward another run for a ticket to the postseason, it's important to recognize the players who have helped contribute. Among a collection of players who have pitched in to the Twin's 2025 resurgence, one player who has seemingly been underrated during this stretch is utility player Willi Castro.
Willi Castro's hot stretch leading Twins' offensive resurgence
Since joining the team back in 2023, Castro has had a solid and consistent Twins career that includes an All-Star appearance last year. He's filled a role that has been especially helpful with his versatility and somewhat consistent batting. This season, and more recently, he's been on a tear.
At first, Castro struggled early on to start the year. From the beginning of the season up until April 16th, Castro was batting .206/.275/.333 and had an absolute abysmal OPS of .609. However, since he had been reinstated from the injury list on May 5th after a short stint due to a strained right oblique, he's been among one of the best bats in the lineup. In the 23 games he's played in since May 6th, Castro has batted .289/.360/.566 with a strong OPS of .926. Among those stats, Castro produced 22 hits and five home runs whilst scoring eight RBIs and 18 runs.
In the last three games out of five, Castro had produced at least two hits. In two of those games, he's hit two home runs each. Firstly, he was instrumental in the Twin's comeback victory against the Mariners on May 30th. He pulled the Twins into a one-run deficit in the seventh inning with a solo shot into right-centerfield. After a Cal Raleigh two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth, Castro pulled Minnesota right back into the game with his own two-run home run, once again into right-centerfield. Overall, he went 2/3 and was pivotal in the comeback.
Not long after, he had another game with two home runs, this time in Sacramento against the Athletics, where he produced his 50th blast of his career with a 395ft solo shot into left to cut the deficit in half. In the top of the sixth, he hit his 51st career home run and the second one of the ballgame that ultimately gave the Twins the lead for good.
His season stats have shown improvement since he returned and started hitting despite his poor start. Since he started hitting, he raised his season statistics to .261/.346/.457 and upped his OPS to an above-average .803
But is his current batting going to stand over the course of the season? His standard batting statistics look fine on paper and are certainly helpful at the moment, but what about his underlying statistics? Castro's hard-hitting rate currently stands at about 38%, with an average exit velocity of 86.3 mph (which is in the bottom 6% of the MLB this season). His Baseball Savant page shows quite a lot of blue circles, and most of his current statistics are outperforming his projected stats.
It is fair to note that he is most likely due for some form of regression. However, with his current role on the team, just seeing him hit somewhat well enough is just dandy for a utility player.