Exclusive: Colorado Rockies legend Vinny Castilla on his career, future, and grilling

Colorado Rockies legend Vinny Castilla recently partnered with Kingsford for a cookbook on recipes for each of the 30 MLB teams and some recipes from former major leaguers. On Tuesday, we had an exclusive conversation with Castilla about the partnership with Kingsford, his baseball career, and his future in baseball.

You probably best know Vinny Castilla as one of the Blake Street Bombers of the early years of the Colorado Rockies, along with Larry Walker, Andres Galarraga, and Dante Bichette. He leads the Rockies all-time list in games played at third base (1098), third in Rockies franchise history in home runs (239), fifth in Rockies history in RBI (745), and fifth in hits (1206).

It has been 13 years since he last played a major league game, though. In his retirement, he has stayed involved with the Rockies as a special assistant to Rockies GM Jeff Bridich.

While the “special assistant” duties vary depending on the organization, for Castilla, he does a lot of different things.

"“I do a little bit of everything,” said Castilla. “I’m a mentor for some young kids in the organization, especially some Latin guys. I help them, when they come to the major leagues. I go to the instructional league and work with the young players.” “I get asked about some [amateur] players and whether we should sign them. I travel with the team maybe once or twice [throughout the season] but I usually stay with the Rockies during home games. I also help out [Rockies Vice President of International Scouting and Development] Rolando Fernandez too, sometimes, when we sign a Mexican player. So I do a little bit of everything and I love my job.”"