Starlin Castro hat trick: great catch, error, home run

The sport of hockey has the Gordie Howe hat trick and now baseball has the Starlin Castro hat trick.

The term hat trick is originally from cricket but is typically associated with hockey. It’s natural hockey meaning is when a player scores three goals in one game. Hockey legend Gordie Howe has a variation of a hat trick named after him which includes getting a goal, an assist and getting into a fight.

Chicago Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro may have come up with his own baseball hat trick Tuesday night versus the Miami Marlins.

The first part of the Castro hat trick is a great catch. This diving grab was made in the bottom of the fifth inning after Dee Gordon of the Marlins sent the ball softly knuckling into the air.

In a microcosm of what has been Castro’s season, two innings later, the Cubs shortstop would be charged with an error. An innocent looking grounder hit to him by Marlins Christian Yelich turned into error number 12 on the season for Starlin Castro. That would be the second part of the hat trick.

The home run completes the hat trick for Starlin Castro.

After seeing how slow that home run trot was you wouldn’t think it was only his fourth homer of the season. You definitely wouldn’t think that before the game, Castro was dropped to sixth in the batting order.

Castro’s numbers for May were a very disappointing .221 AVG with only one homer and a paltry .539 OPS. With rumors circulating that the Cubs may call up second baseman/shortstop prospect Javier Baez to take some at-bats at DH during their inter-league schedule, Cubs fans are clamoring for a change of guard.

For now though, whenever a baseball player completes the following trifecta – great catch, error and home run – all in the same game, consider it the Starlin Castro hat trick.