Professional Career
Casilla was signed as a free agent by the Los Angeles Angels in 2003. On December 9, 2005, the Angels traded Casilla to the Minnesota Twins for pitcher J.C. Romero. Casilla made his major league debut with the Twins in September of 2006, playing in 9 games.
In 2007, after a brief callup with the Twins, Casilla became the every-day second baseman after Luis Castillo was traded to the New York Mets. Casilla struggled, producing a .222 batting average with no home runs in 189 at-bats.
In 2008, Casilla did not make the Twins Opening Day roster and instead started for the Twins Triple-A affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings. After an injury to infielder Nick Punto, Casilla was called up in May. On May 19, 2008, Casilla hit a three-run homer, his first career MLB home run against Texas Rangers. It was also his first hit of the 2008 season. Casilla spent the rest of the 2008 season as the Twins' starting second baseman and second hitter in the lineup.
At the end of the 2008 season, he was batting .281 with 7 home runs and 50 RBI.
Casilla struggled to begin the 2009 season. After hitting only .167 in his first 84 at-bats, he was optioned to Triple-A Rochester. He was recalled and had a .202 AVG, .280 OBP, and a .259 SLG. He had the most at-bats without a home run in the AL.
In 2009, during the 2009 AL Central tie-breaker game featuring the Twins against the Detroit Tigers, Casilla became the unlikely hero, hitting a game-winning walk-off single to score Carlos Gomez from second base in the bottom of the 12th inning.
Prior to the 2010 season, Casilla changed his number from 25 to 12, giving number 25 to Jim Thome, who has worn the number for almost his entire 21-year career.
For most of the 2011 season, Casilla switched between second base and shortstop, sometimes filling in for Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who was injured for the first two months of the season.
Casilla made the Twins' Opening Day roster and got off to a relatively slow start in his first 16 games.
On November 2, 2012 he was picked up off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles.
Read more about this topic: Alexi Casilla
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