Quade’s focus on Castro’s defense

MESA, Ariz. — There’s only one thing Cubs manager Mike Quade wants to see shortstop Starlin Castro work on this spring.

“Defense, and that’s it,” Quade said Sunday. “Every aspect of defense.”

Castro, who turns 21 next month, enters his second year on the heels of hitting .300 over 125 games in his rookie season. He homered in his first big-league at-bat, May 7 at Cincinnati, and drove in 6 runs that game.

He also committed 27 errors last year and suffered now and then from lapses in concentration.

On balance, it was a productive rookie season for Castro.

“I think it was good, but I’m looking to be better, more consistent,” he said through translator Ivan DeJesus, the Cubs’ third-base coach.

Quade stressed the need for overall good defense up the middle, not only from Castro.

“I think he’s going to be a good offensive player,” the manager said. “He was last year. I think he’s going to be OK offensively. How good offensively, I don’t know.

“But I know what we need from him defensively. We talked about it before. We need to be better up the middle. Obviously, he’s a big part of that.”

Quade said he talked Sunday with Castro’s father. As an authority figure last year, Quade sat Castro for a couple of games late last season to allow him to observe.

“You give a guy a little breather and let him watch,” Quade said. “It’s unlikely that he’s going to all of a sudden have a miraculous … but that’s pointing out the seriousness of it. That’s taking a little pressure off a guy for a day or two. There are so many things that go into that.

“That didn’t happen because he thought he had it licked. There was so much, so fast, that’s so important for this kid. Sometimes you think, ‘Maybe it’s a little too much right now, and maybe this is a good thing,’ and it gets taken as discipline or whatever.

“It really wasn’t. I really thought it was teaching moment for the kid to step back.”

Castro concurred about the benching being a learning experience.

“The lesson I learned is that by watching the game, you can learn more,” he said. “At the same time, put pressure on yourself to be the best player you can be to learn from my mistakes and learn from other people.”

All wet:

The Cubs got most of their work in outdoors before a cold rain hit late in the morning. On the docket was “live” batting practice, never a favorite among the hitters on the first day.

Among those on the mound were Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, Matt Garza and Carlos Marmol. Outfielder Reed Johnson was none too thrilled to be facing Marmol. When asked how many swings he’d take, Johnson quipped: ‘Oh, I don’t know. Zero.”

Almost here:

Mike Quade said he may know by Tuesday who will start next Sunday’s Cactus League opener against Oakland at HoHoKam Park. He will discuss that with pitching coach Mark Riggins.

The Cubs will work backward from the April 1 regular-season opener at Wrigley Field to set up their rotation, so Quade said to read nothing into who starts next Sunday.

The quote:

Mike Quade on last year’s 24-13 finish to the season: “There’s a fine line between building on the way we finished and being satisfied by the way we finished. Six weeks means nothing as far as a major-league season goes. You take six weeks and turn it into six months and you’ve got something.”