Willi Rafael Castro Capellan...Instagram: @willic001...Wife, Aniana...Daughters, Arantxa and Amira...Aniana runs her own dessert shop, Lilo’s Handmade Desserts, on Instagram, specializing in different kinds of flan and tres leches cake...Willi was born in Puerto Rico, but moved with his parents to North Carolina when he was a child and attended elementary school there...Moved to the Dominican Republic when he signed his first contract with Cleveland...His father, Lilliano signed with the Detroit Tigers in 1987 but suffered an arm injury in 1988 forcing him to retire, landing a coaching job in the Tigers farm system for eight years...After that, he worked for the New York Mets for 15 years...Willi and Lilliano text after almost every game, never going more than two days without talking and nobody knows Willi's game better than his dad...During that time, Jose Reyes became Willi's favorite player...Reyes inspired Willi to become the player that he is today...Participated in the 2024 Twins Winter Caravan, visiting Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Randolph, Minn.; the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. and Treasure Island Resort and Casino...Enjoys watching reels on Instagram and on TikTok (user name: Willic001_)...Favorite subject in school was history...Attended 2024 Twinsfest.
2023
Made Twins Opening Day roster, his second time on a Major League Opening Day roster (2021 with Detroit)...Rostered as a bench player and one of the club's utility players coming out of Spring Training; ended seasons as an everyday player at a variety of positions...Scored game-winning run on April 11 vs. Chicago-AL...Pinch-ran for Christian Vázquez and scored from second on a Michael A. Taylor infield single, coming home on a throwing error...Stole a career-high 15 consecutive bases from May 6-July 3...Hit safely in a career-high-tying eight-straight games from May 12-21, batting .333 (11-for-33) with three doubles, one home run, three RBI, three stolen bases and an .848 OPS in that span...Stole season-high and matched single-game career-high two bases four times: May 16 at Los Angeles-NL, May 24 vs. San Francisco, July 3 vs. Kansas City and July 25 vs. Seattle...Stole home three times on season: May 24 vs. San Francisco, July 15 at Oakland and July 28 at Kansas City...All the steals were part of a first-and-third double steal scenario...Second most steals of home for a Twin in a single season since Rod Carew stole home seven times in 1969...Recorded first career walk-off plate appearance and RBI with a sacrifice fly off Eli Morgan in the ninth inning on June 1 vs. Cleveland...Tied career-high with three hits on May 21 at Los Angeles-AL (all singles)...Matched that again on July 18 at Seattle and again on Sept. 9 vs. New York-NL...Recorded first career multi-homer game on May 27 vs. Toronto, both from the left side of the plate, off Chris Bassitt and Adam Cimber...Hit .319 (23-for-72) with four doubles, three home runs, six RBI, a .355 on-base percentage, a .500 slugging percentage and an .855 OPS in 24 May games...Led club in hits and runs scored (15) for the month...Placed on 10-day injured list on Aug. 15 with a strained left oblique; played in three games on rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul and was reinstated on Sept. 3...During IL stint, Castro attended the birth of his second daughter, Amira, on Aug. 31 at Abbott Northwestern...Recorded an extra-base hit in a career-high-tying three-straight games from Sept. 19-22, with one triple and two home runs...Streak included homering in consecutive games for the third time in his career from Sept. 19-20...Set career high in average exit velocity (86.5 mph)...Ranked second on Twins in runs scored (60)...Set career-high with 33 stolen bases, which also led the team and ranked fourth in baseball (38 attempts)...Most stolen bases for a Twin since Ben Revere stole 40 in 2012...Posted a 86.8 stolen base percentage, seventh best in baseball...Played seven different positions defensively...Played 54 games (33 starts) in leftfield, 45 games (29 starts) in centerfield, 41 games (23 starts) at third base, 10 games (four starts) at second base), eight games (one start) at shortstop and four games (two starts) in rightfield...Also pitched three times...Hit .298 (48-for-161) with a .497 slugging percentage against fastballs...Hit .266 (65-for-244) with an .803 OPS vs. right-handed pitching and .237 (27-for-114) with a .636 OPS vs. left-handed pitching...Made postseason debut in Game 1 of ALWCS vs. Toronto on Oct. 3 as a defensive replacement in leftfield...Recorded first career postseason hit, singling off Jordan Romano in Game 2 of ALWCS vs. Toronto...Went 1-for-3 with a walk and one RBI in Game 3 of the ALDS vs. Houston.
2022
Began season with Triple-A Toledo after being optioned from Tigers Spring Training on April 6....Played in eight games for the Mud Hens from April 7-15 and was recalled by Detroit on April 17... remained with Tigers for rest of season....Reached base six times in the doubleheader on May 10 vs. Oakland, going 5-for-7 with a walk...had three hits in the first game, his ninth career three-hit game....Made first career start in rightfield on June 1 vs. Minnesota...sixth career position in which he made at least one start in career....Hit first career leadoff home run on June 13 vs. Chicago-AL, off Lance Lynn....Homered in back-to-back games on July 28-29 at Toronto, the second time in his career homering in consecutive games (other, June 18-19, 2021)....Hit pair of doubles on Aug. 6 vs. Tampa Bay; second career multi-double game (other, Aug. 22, 2021 at Toronto)....Placed on 10-day Injured List on Sept. 30 with a strained left hamstring, ending his season....Hit .250 (30-for-120) with three home runs and a .660 OPS as right-handed batter and .237 (58-for-245) with five home runs and a .646 OPS as left-handed batter....Released by Detroit on Nov. 18 and signed by Minnesota as Minor League free agent on Dec. 22.
2021
Played in a career-high 125 games with the Tigers in 2021...Showed positional flexibility during the season, starting 81 games at second base, 19 games at shortstop and making the first 10 starts of his career in left field...Finished the season with a career-best six triples, which ranked tied for fourth in the American League...Earned a spot on the Major League Opening Day roster for the first time in his career...Hit a single with an exit velocity of 115.4 MPH on April 6 vs. Minnesota...marked the hardest-hit ball of his career and the second hardest for any Tigers batted ball in the Statcast Era (2015-present)...Batted in the leadoff spot for the first time in his Major League career April 9 at Cleveland...Homered on his birthday on April 24 vs. Kansas City, becoming the first Tigers player to homer on his birthday since Miguel Cabrera on April 18, 2018, vs. Baltimore...Recorded his first Major League stolen base May 15 vs. Chicago (NL)...Reached base in all four plate appearances June 4 at Chicago (AL), going 3x3 with a double and a walk...was the first time in his career reaching base four-plus times in a game...Had a pair of extra-base hits, including his fifth triple of the season, and tied a career-high with three RBI on Aug. 10 at Baltimore...Started in left field Aug. 14 vs. Cleveland, marking his first start in the outfield at any level of professional baseball...went 1x3 with his first career multi-stolen base game...Homered in back-to-back games for the first time in his career on August 18-19 vs. Los Angeles (AL)...Went 2-for-4 on Aug. 25 at St. Louis and hit .295/.311/.545 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs and six RBI over a 12-game stretch from Aug. 10-25...had a pair of doubles Aug. 22 at Toronto, marking his first career multi-double game.
2020
Posted one of the best seasons for a Tigers rookie in franchise history, and finished as one of the top rookies in the American League during the 2020 campaign... Over 36 games and 129 at-bats he hit .349/.381/.550 with 21 runs scored, four doubles, two triples, six homers and 24 RBI... Led American League rookies with at least 125 at-bats in batting average and slugging percentage, while he ranked second in on-base percentage, tied for fourth in RBI and fifth in home runs...was one of eight AL rookies to have more than 125 at-bats in 2020... His batting average finished as the second highest for a rookie in franchise history (min. 125 at-bats), trailing only Fred Haney’s 1922 campaign, during which he batted .352 (75x213)… Had hits in 21-of-25 games from Aug. 20-Sept. 20, including multiple knocks in nine of those contests, over which he batted a combined .352/.388/.560 with 12 runs scored, three doubles, two triples, four home runs and 16 RBI... Blasted a 445-foot moonshot on Aug. 22 at Cleveland that finished the season ranked as the club’s third-longest home run of the season, behind Miguel Cabrera’s 450-foot shot on Sept. 24 and C.J. Cron’s 447-foot Opening Day missile at Cincinnati…ball was struck at 107.4 MPH, which ranked as his fifth-hardest hit ball of his season... Had a career-long, seven-game hitting streak to begin his season from Aug. 20-Sept. 2, over which he batted .462/.462/.731 with six runs scored, two doubles, one triple, one home run and five RBI…the streak was also tied for the fifth longest by a Tiger this season (long, Cabrera with 13 games)… Ranked as the No. 9 prospect in the Tigers player development system by Baseball America.
2019
Earned Tigers co-Minor League Player of the Year honors in 2019 after hitting .301/.366/.467 with 28 doubles, eight triples, 11 home runs and 62 RBI in 119 games with Triple A Toledo...Atthe time of his promotion to the Major Leagues on August 25, he ranked tied for firstin the International League in triples, second in hits (140) and tied for fifth in runs (75) and total bases (217)...Selected to the International League All-Star Team...Opened the season on a 13-game hitting streak with Triple A Toledo from April 4-19, hitting .327/.414/.388 with one double, one triple and four RBI...Hit over .300 in each of the first two months of the season with Toledo, batting .337/.422/.465 with four doubles, two triples, one home run and nine RBI in April, while he hit .333/.396/.531 with five doubles, four triples, two home runs and 13 RBI in May...Belted a pair of solo home runs on August 21 at Indianapolis.
2018
Began the 2018 season in the Cleveland Indians organization, before being acquired by the Tigers on July 31...Named to the Eastern League Midseason All-Star Team...Led the Eastern League with nine sacrifice hits...Had a four-hit performance, including three doubles, and drove in a season-high five runs on May 25 vs. Richmond...also had a four-hit game on August 8 vs. Portland...Played in 31 games in August/September, hitting .317/.353/.516 with 12 runs scored, nine doubles, two triples, four home runs and 15 RBI...Saw time in 24 games with Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League, batting .237/.265/.402 with 10 runs scored, four doubles, three triples, two home runs and eight RBI. • Ranked as the ninth-best prospect in the Tigers organization by Baseball America following the season.
2017
Spent the season at Single-A Lynchburg, co-champions of the Carolina League...Led team with 136 hits as a 20-year old (began the season at age 19)...Collected professional career-bests with 11 homers, 58 RBIs and 69 runs scored...Ranked 2nd in the league in hits, 4th in batting average and 6th in runs scored... After the season was named an Organizational All-Star (SS) by MiLB.com...Was a Midseason and Postseason Carolina League All-Star... Added to the 40-man roster on Nov. 20. The switch-hitter compiled nearly identical batting averages from both sides of the plate (.289 vs. RHP; .292 vs. LHP) while posting an .820 OPS vs. LHP with 18 extra base hits (.730 OPS vs. RHP) ...Batted .304 (75/247) in 61 second half games with 12 2B, 3 3B, 6 HR & 28 RBI to conclude the season (.797 OPS)...Batted .314 (64/204) with runners on for the year... After the season batted .448 (13/29) for Escogido in the Dominican Winter League (8 games, 5 runs, 1 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI) before knee sprain on Oct. 24 ended his winter.
