No one can watch the pirates, not even their own players (video)

Yes, it is true. The Pittsburgh Pirates are so unremarkable at the moment (minus a few, I see you Oneil Cruz) that Rodolfo Castro has brought his cell phone to the basepaths.

Castro made the turn to third base — he was paying close attention to the play — and all was well until it wasn’t. The Bucs second baseman dropped his cell phone, slipping it out of his pocket and making a scene.

Who doesn’t need to check Twitter in the middle of a baseball game?

As funny as it is to poke fun at, Castro’s mistake is actually genius. For anyone who has ever been to a ballpark, a cell phone is a necessity. Going through a four-hour baseball game without one is…well, kind of boring.

I love America’s Pastime as much as anyone, but Pirates-Diamondbacks on a Tuesday night? They ask a lot, even from die-hard fans. A phone is a welcome distraction.

Pirates: Rodolfo Castro fixes cell phone bugs

Castro’s mistake was getting it onto the field in the first place and not making sure it was buried a little deeper in his pocket before performing an aggressive baserunning maneuver.

“I don’t think there is a professional ball player who would ever go out with the intention of picking up a cell phone.” Castro said. “It’s terrible that this happened to me. Obviously it was very unintentional.”

Castro reacted correctly. After the phone fell out of his pocket, he picked it up and handed it to third base coach Mike Rebelo. This corrected a simple error. After all, Castro was only 90 feet from home plate.

“You stay with the game and you see things that you haven’t seen before,” said manager Derek Shelton. “It was just a kid who made a mistake. It’s just one of those things that we walk away from and tell him, ‘You can’t do that.'”

If anything, this will be a learning experience for Castro in what will hopefully be a long career in the top flight.