When Rusney Castillo first became available after defecting from Cuba, many were worried that his roughly year-and-a-half long break from baseball would hurt his transition into the major leagues.

But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Alex Cora, manager of the Puerto Rico Winter League’s Criollos de Caguas, told WEEI’s Rob Bradford that the Boston Red Sox outfielder is MLB-ready.

“He’s ready to play in the big leagues,” Cora said. “Mentally, we were very impressed with his approach. He didn’t try and pull too much. Most of his hits were back up the middle, right-center. Defensively was the part that caught our eye. He did a really good job in center field. He has a feel of where to play guys after that first at-bat. We liked what we saw.”

Castillo finished 10 Winter League games with a .405 average in 37 at-bats with a home run and two stolen bases. He also got in another eight games in the Arizona Fall League. And as it turns out, Cora said Castillo wasn’t as rusty as everyone expected.

“The report we got that was he was raw baseball-wise,” the former Red Sox infielder said. “But he’s not. The way he talks the game in the dugout. The way he gets details. That really caught my eye.”

Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images