Cubs: The best international signings in team history

Chicago Cubs: Building up the middle

2. Starlin Castro

The Cubs signed Castro on October 25th, 2006. A Dominican Republic native, Castro would go on to set the bar high in 2011. The 21-year-old shortstop led the league in two separate categories, at-bats (647) and hits (207).

Castro played in 891 games throughout his six years bearing the Cubs uniform. Hitting 62 home runs and driving in 186 batters. His 207 hits in the 2001 season place him ninth all-time in Cubs single-season record book, one shy of Hack Wilson who has 208. Another record moment also in his 2011 campaign his league-leading 674 at-bats put him second only trailing the speedy Juan Pierre who had 699 single-season at-bats in 2006.

The Cubs later traded Castro to the New York Yankees in the winter of 2015 for relief pitcher Adam Warren and prospect Brennan Ryan.