The Saga of Santiago Casilla
Well, that’s likely because until last week, he was known as Jairo Garcia. He also pulled off the rare feat of aging almost three years in one day. Apparently he wasn’t exactly truthful about his name and age when he signed with the A’s back in 2000. Instead of being born Jairo Garcia on March 7 1983, he was actually born June 25 1980 as Santiago Casilla in Don Gregorio, Dominican Republic. (Interestingly enough, Don Gregorio has produced one other Major Leaguer, Wilton Guerrero, significant only for being the insignificant brother of Vladimir Guerrero.)
This is a growing trend in baseball, the unmasking of players as being older than they are. It has always been suspected of some of the Latin American products, but usually dismissed as unfounded rumors or disguised racism. Since the US government has cracked down on the identities of foreign citizens crossing the borders, there have been many of these cases of Latino baseball players aging years overnight. It’s hard to blame them, really. If I was a 20 year old kid who grew up in a small town in the Dominican, and I knew that chopping three years off of my age would get me noticed by a scout, it would be a hard thing to resist. Heck, if I could do that here, it would be hard to resist. Sure, it’s unethical, but when it may be your best chance at a better life, you have to take it. If I recall correctly, the A’s own Juan Cruz aged from 21 to 23 in 2002, when he was with the Cubs.
There was a book published back in 1991 about baseball development in the DR called “The Only Ticket Off The Island”, by Gare Joyce. It’s out of print now, but I tracked down a copy from amazon. It’s also available used from Alibris and Barnes & Noble. I have yet to receive my copy in the mail, but from what I understand, Joyce investigates the ages of some Dominican major leaguers (in 1991) and finds out that age-shaving is not the exception, but seemingly the rule.
I should point out that the idea of knocking a year or three off of your age is not something that’s specifically Latin American. There have been many US born players to misrepresent their year of birth, too. Notable examples are Joe Jackson, Babe Ruth and Tris Speaker. More recently, Rich Rowland, a backup catcher for the Red Sox, was discovered to be older than he had claimed by some investigative sportswriters at the Boston Globe. The difference between the US and DR, though, is the ease with which a person in the DR can get a falsified birth certificate.
So how does this affect the status of Jairo Garcia, I mean Santiago Casilla, with the A’s? Well, all Billy Beane had to say was, “It’s something we didn’t know about, but he came forward with the information, so I commend him for that.'’ Even though he’s now 25, I have to think he still has a good future with the A’s. I can’t see them letting him sit too long at AAA, though. A mid-season call up or even making the team out of Spring Training is possible. Anyone with Casilla’s potential will get a shot.
As many of you already are aware, Casilla was an enigma well before his name changed. He’s had flashes of unbelievable dominance, with a K/9 ratio of 14 and better at some levels. The flip side of the coin is his control issues. He’s a very on/off pitcher. When he’s on, he’ll strike out 2 batters an inning, and be nearly unhittable. When he’s off, he’ll walk the bases full and give up home run after home run. If he can get some control down, which usually comes with time, he’ll be dominant.
Take a look at his numbers, courtesy of TheBaseballCube.
There are a few things that stand out there. He strikes out a ridiculous number of folks. He also walks too many. He had a good year in Sacramento last season, overall. He had a 4.47 ERA, though, you say! Look at the peripheral numbers. He had 78 strikeouts in only 48 1/3 innings. If he can get a bit more control, which is the dead horse I’ve been thrashing for the past three paragraphs, he’ll be fine.
So what’s Santiago up to now? He just finished pitching in the Dominican Winter League for the Leones del Escogido. He put up decent numbers in a limited amount of innings. According to the A’s Official Site, “A’s assistant general manager David Forst said the club got exceptional reports on [Casilla] throughout the winter…” He put up an ERA of 1.29 there, over only 7.0 IP.
He’ll report to Phoenix Municipal Stadium on February 18th, along with the rest of the pitchers and catchers. He’ll be one to keep an eye on during spring training. There seem to be no openings in the bullpen for him at the moment, but if he puts up good numbers in March, and during the first month or two of the season, you have to believe Billy Beane will make a spot for him. He’s been the subject of trade rumors in the past, though, and with the current situation at closer seemingly filled for the foreseeable future, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Casilla dealt. Especially this year, with the A’s front office apparently angling for a deep postseason, a trade deadline deal for that one perfect piece would make a lot of sense.