PLAYING CAREER:
A club original and one of the most popular players in franchise history, Vinny Castilla returns
for another season as a special assistant...returned to Denver in mid-August of 2006 and finished his career with the
Rockies...the 2011-12 winter marked the first that Castilla has played winter-ball for Hermosillo in the Mexican Winter
League...selected by the Rockies in the 1992 Expansion Draft, Castilla played for Colorado's inaugural ballclub in 1993
and was an All-Star on two occasions over eight-plus seasons with the organization...he was one of the National League's
most productive hitters over a five-year span from 1995-99, during which he averaged 183 hits, 38 home runs and 112 RBI
per season...he played in 98% of Colorado's games over those five years (778 of 792) and is still the only Rockie to start
all 162 games in a single season, accomplishing the feat in 1998...compiled three straight 40-homer seasons from 1996-
98, one of just nine players in National League history to do that...his string of five straight 30-homer campaigns from 1995-
99 still ranks as the third-most ever by a third baseman...only Eddie Mathews (9, 1953-61) and Mike Schmidt (8, 1979-84,
86-87) had more...Castilla was a part of only the second foursome to ever hit 30 home runs in the same year (1995) and
only the second threesome to hit 40 HR in the same season (1996)...Vinny had 306 career home runs as a third baseman, 8th-most in Major League history...the Oaxaca, Mexico, native finished as the all-time leader among Mexican-born
players in home runs (320), hits (1,884), runs (902), RBI (1,105) and doubles (349)...in Rockies history, ranks third in
games (1098) and home runs (239), and ranks fourth in RBI (745), hits (1,206), and doubles (208)...had 32 multi-homer
games, including franchise-record 27 as a Rockie...he joins Todd Helton as the only players in franchise history with six
seasons of 30 or more home runs...his 916 starts at third base in purple pinstripes is also a club record...Vinny owned a
.350 career postseason average with 5 home runs and 12 RBI, including a .467 (7-for-13) clip with 3 homers and 6 RBI
for Colorado in the 1995 NLDS.
