Red Sox's Rusney Castillo: Hitting curveballs, sliders the goal

Castillo continues to work on hitting curveballs and sliders with Triple-A Pawtucket hitting coach Rich Gedman, the Providence Journal reports.

Most of the problems experienced by Castillo, who lost his starting left field job during spring training when he hit .183 with a .200 slugging percentage, stems from an inability to hit offspeed stuff at the big league level. "We've seen him aggressive against the fastball," PawSox manager Kevin Boles said. "We need to see a better pass, a better approach against the breaking ball. We've seen at times where, with two strikes, he's been able to take the ball to right field -- but sometimes there's some length there with the swing and there's some swing and miss on the breaking ball." The ability to recognize the breaking stuff and adjust is a major need for Castillo, who must also refrain from expanding the strike zone when behind in the count. If it's to happen, it will take some time, so we're not hopeful that Castillo will be up with Boston anytime soon.