That Tears It

It’s amazing how badly you can injure yourself when your feet touch a base.

Geoff Jenkins had the misfortune of finding this out on June 17, 2002 when he was lunging back to third base and dislocated his ankle. Even though the injury was horrific (see horrific photos), it was the reason for one of my favorite sports quotes.

“That was the worst thing I’ve ever heard and seen,”
Geoff Blum said after he got a front row view.

Jason Castro didn’t mimic Jenkins, but he did get an injury while rounding first base on Monday. He tore the meniscus muscle in his right knee when his foot landed awkwardly on first base.

Initially it was thought that he would be out for 4 to 6 weeks.  However on Thursday night, doctors realized he also had a torn anterior cruciate ligament and he will probably not be ready to play until September, at the earliest.

Let’s be honest.  Even if the Astros play in October this season, Castro isn’t going to be with the team.  Starting a catcher in September is like turning on the air conditioning at the end of a hot, summer day in Corpus.

After successful surgery onFriday, a lot of fans are panicking in regards to the catching position.  I had a friend earlier who texted me that the “Astros are toast.”

That’s just crazy-talk.  Quintero is more than capable of handling the backstop.  The season hasn’t even started.  Why is everyone panicking already?

Back to the Astros’ Future

On July 12, MLB had its annual Futures Game showcasing some of the best prospects in baseball.  The Astros had two minor league players participating: Catcher Jason Castro and Pitcher Chia-Jen Lo.  While Castro is having a great season, Lo is not, but the Taiwanese pitcher was invited to fill out the World roster. The World ended up beating the US 7-5 with 4 runs in the top of the 7th

Lo pitched 1 inning, had 1 strikeout and gave up 2 walks that did not turn into any runs.  Not a stellar performance, but definitely not the embarrassing one that the losing pitcher, Trevor Reckling (Angels), had.  He ended the night with a 40.50 ERA, a loss and a blown save for two-thirds an inning of work.

Castro had an awesome game!  He had 2 at-bats, 1 hit, 1 run and 3 RBIs with a three-run homer in the bottom of the 5th inning with 2 outs.  It was a really great showing and further solidifies the Astros having found their catcher of the future.  He is tearing it up at Double-A.  So much so, that I now think it wouldn’t be a surprise for him to be in Triple-A by the end of the season.  He may be on the fast track to the majors for 2010.

Normally, I don’t like for players to be promoted so quickly, but he is really not having any problems in Corpus at the plate.  Of course, it depends on what he is doing behind the plate as well.  When I watched him play against San Antonio in June, he seemed to handle the pitching staff just fine, but had some problems guarding the plate.  He also had an issue throwing to third.  However, this was only one game and I would need to see more before I could make a decision on his catching prowess.

There is one thing that annoyed me about the Futures Game and it is that Castro didn’t get the MVP.  As per usual, they gave the MVP to someone from the winning team, and that’s the right call.  I guess I am just annoyed that if the US team had won, Castro probably would have gotten the MVP and it would have been nice for the Astros to get some recognition.

Everybody take a moment today and pray to God, Allah, Cthulhu or follow whatever ritual you believe in and ask him to please keep Drayton McClane from trading Jason Castro to another team for second half help.  Of all of the players we have in our minor league system, this is the one we need to keep the most.

Mier Officially Introduced as an Astros

The official press conference was yesterday and Jiovanni Mier and now an official member of the Astros.  With a $1.358 million signing bonus, Mier heads to Greeneville to begin his minor league career.“The fact that he signed so soon gets him into the [developmental] environment that much faster,” Ed Wade said. “We have three first-year players playing in Double-A, including our first-round pick last year and our 48th-round pick last year. These months that [Mier] has now given himself an opportunity to take advantage of will hopefully accelerate his process and get him on the express lane.”

The Astros were very pleased that Mier signed so quickly.

Now begins the career of another high pick for Houston and you wonder if it is going to be as successful as Jason Castro who is clearly prospering in Corpus Christi and looks to be a starter for the Astros in 2011, if not sooner.

Will Jiovanni be up to the task?  He’s so young, but he has the defensive mindset already.  More and more reports that I read talk about how he is a natural at shortstop.

“When we saw him at showcases, we saw the tools that you look for in a shortstop and he had all the actions that you look for,” said Doug Deutsch, the scout who followed Mier. “The ease with which he plays shortstop, for me, was very positive. It’s just not a big effort for him.”

Looking at him, I’d say he needs to gain about 50 pounds of muscle.  He’s a little guy with a shortstop body, but that isn’t going to fill out a major league uniform. (I think even slimdog Julio Lugo could run over him right now.)

He needs to work on his hitting.  A .394 average in your senior year of high school is great, but that isn’t going to hold up in front of Zach Grienke or Chris Young who are just going to get better by the time he puts on an Astro jersey.

I hope that it works out.  He will be 21 years old, at the earliest, when he enters Minute Maid Park and that seems so young to me.  But if he has the stuff and he can hit major league pitching, then he will ready.

Koby Clemens

On a side note, Koby Clemens had 6 RBIs last night for the Lancaster JetHawks.  The catcher/designated hitter looked solid and had a three-run homer to boot.

A Look at Jason Castro

I went to take a look at Jason Castro. He was upgraded to Double-A on June 14, 2009 and the Hooks were playing a series in nearby San Antonio, so it was an easy, 103 degree trip for me. (Thank god for light breezes!)

I took a bunch of photos which you can in this post and had a great time watching the Astros catcher of the future. (I hope.) Jason is a tall man; one of the tallest on the team. It’s unusual to see a catcher tower above the other players, but unusual in a good way.

Here are my thoughts on what I saw…

Hitting

Hitting has been a major issue in the past with the Houston catchers. When you have the best defensive catcher in the league in Brad Ausmus, you are willing to accept a much lower batting average. But Jason Castro isn’t going to come into the league as the best defensive catcher and we have seen this year that a boost to offense at that position in Pudge has made a difference in the batting order and the reaction of the opposing pitcher.

Jason’s hitting was quite good. He went 2-for-4 with a couple of well placed singles and he also scored a run. He has a solid stance and a good eye for the ball. He didn’t appear to have any problems facing better pitching, so the decision to move him up from Single-A is a good one based on offense.

Prognosis: Good

Baserunning

There really wasn’t a chance to see his baserunning abilities, but he did seem to have some good speed on the bases. This is probably due to the fact that he has really, really long legs.

Prognosis: Too Early to Tell

Game Calling

I can’t really comment on this as I feel I should see more than one game before deciding if Jason knows how to call a game. Based on the Sunday game, he isn’t good, but I really feel that was more of an issue with the pitching than him. The Hooks’ pitching staff was definitely struggling on Sunday. It was hot on the field and they didn’t appear to have their heads in the game, especially in the later innings. There was one wild pitch, but it is hard to tell if that was the pitcher blowing the pitch, Jason blowing the catch or both of them not communicating. I think we should give Jason some more time before declaring that there is a problem.

Prognosis: Average

Throwing

There were two opportunities to see him throw, one to second and one to third. The second base throw was spot on. You couldn’t have asked for better location and he got the ball there well before the runner. His reaction time was good very quick and it was definitely impressive. His throw third wasn’t as good. He was off target and even though he got the ball there on time, it was nowhere near the runner. Jason needs to work on the home-to-third throw, but his home-to-second looks great and I hope this is a sign that base stealers will be more timid when he is behind the plate. I wish Jason had had a chance to work with Ausmus on this aspect of his game. I can’t think of anyone I would want more to teach him. Pudge would be my next choice, so, hopefully, they will have a chance to speak about it at length.

Prognosis: Good, but room for improvement

Defending the Plate

This is the one aspect of the game that I really feel Jason needs some work. He seemed to struggle with some of the pitches and had a passed ball that should have been guardable. I would like to see him work on that. It might be a case of him getting used to the pitchers than anything else, but it was the one thing that we all felt he had problems with.

Prognosis: Poor

Conclusion

I am really excited about Castro. He looked good and other than a few issues behind the plate, I think he is going to be an Astro in 2011 and possibly parts of, if not all of, 2010. (Though I would prefer he get another year in the minors under his belt.) He’s exciting to watch and it looks like first pick in the 2008 draft will pay off in a big way!

Castro Invades Corpus Christi

(Quite possibly my best headline ever…)

In case you missed it, Jason Castro was moved to the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks on Sunday.  His numbers with the Lancaster Jethawks have been great and the Astros want to move him up to give him a chance to experience a quicker speed of the game.

“We’re going to evaluate him on a daily basis. But I think realistically he’s going to benefit more from being in Double-A this year with a little bit better pitching staff, where the speed of the game is going to be a little different,” assistant general manager Ricky Bennett said.

This is a great move for Jason and a positive step for the Astros’ future.  They wouldn’t have moved him if they didn’t think he could handle it and obviously they think he is ready at and behind the plate.

“We’re very excited about where he is in his development process,” said Bennett.  “He’s handled every challenge we put in front of him. His game-calling is better, his blocking is better, his throwing has been outstanding and he’s ready for another challenge. We are ready to move him through the system.”

It also gives Castro a chance to work with former big league catcher and current Hooks manager Luis Pujols.  It’s always a good idea to get a veteran to talk to a rookie especially if it is a catcher.  I am sure Jason will soak in a wealth of information. Of course, there is the worry that they are moving him up too fast, but they will know pretty quickly if it was too soon.  My bet is that Castro will do well.  The next question is: Will Castro be at Triple-A by the end of the season?

“We’re going to evaluate him on a daily basis. But I think realistically he’s going to benefit more from being in Double-A this year with a little bit better pitching staff, where the speed of the game is going to be a little different,” said Bennett.

In other words… no, he will not be in Round Rock for the 2009 season, but don’t forget that Houston is wanting Castro to compete for the starting job next year for the Astros.  I’m not sure how he will do that if he doesn’t play in Triple-A.  Promoting him straight from Double-A would be a huge mistake.

2009 MLB Draft

The draft begins tonight at 5 PM CT.  You can watch it on the MLB Network or online at MLB.com. The Astros have the 21st pick overall and, as usual, the brass is saying that they will pick the best player available.  It drives me nuts when they say that because I don’t believe that they don’t have any idea as to what they are looking for.  (If they don’t, then we have big issues unless the plan is ‘we need help everywhere’ or ‘what does it matter? Drayton is going to trade them away anyway’.)

What do the Astros need?  We have some good arms and bats in Single-A, but not enough to put together a big league roster and some of them will end up being trade bait.  In my opinion, we need pitching.  Badly.  (We need offense too, but Not As Badly.)

On Monday, Astros assistant general manager in charge of scouting Bobby Heck met with the media to discuss the Astros first pick in the draft.  He didn’t say anything that would tell us who they will pick, but he did say that the draft had alot of high school pitching and was lacking in college bats.  He also said that they probably wouldn’t be looking at catching.

“Where we’re at as an organization it’s still adding a depth of quality to our organization. If there’s one thing that we might walk past, all things being equal, is catching. Jason Castro is on his way to Double-A right now and there’s a lot of young catching we like in our system. If I have two players at positions that are side by side and one’s a catcher, I’d opt for another position.”

At MyMLBDraft‘s mock draft, they show the Astros taking Mike Trout who is a centerfielder from Millville High School in New Jersey.  Mike has a good work ethic and he moved from pitcher to shortstop to outfield last year when scouts told him he had a better future in the outfield. Trout was named the 2009 Gatorade Player of the Year in New Jersey

“He can run and he can throw,” the scout said. “He certainly could walk into the big leagues and run and throw with a lot of the guys that are playing there now. But he couldn’t walk into a big league game today and hit or hit with power. It’s something that he’s going to have to learn.”

This goes against my feelings that we need more starting pitching, but as we have seen by my terrible predictions in the past, I am not a draft expert.  Keep in mind that this is a mock draft. It doesn’t really mean anything past the first couple of players. MLBDraftSite has the Astros taking pitcher Matt Hobgood.  The Sporting News has Houston drafting pitcher Rex Brothers. NowPublic has them taking outfielder Tim Wheeler.  So it really is anybody’s guess.

For a great article about Bobby Heck’s thoughts, be sure to visit Brian McTaggart’s blog.  He also talks about Jason Castro’s move to Corpus Christi.

Where are the 2008 Draft Picks?

I thought I would spend a few posts on the Astros 2008 draft picks and see how they were performing. Let’s start off with the Lancaster Jethawks.

Name	Position
Jason Castro	C
T.J. Steele	OF
Jack Shuck	OF
Jonathan Gaston	OF
David Flores	3B
David Duncan	LHP
Christopher Hicks	RHP
Shane Wolf	LHP
Philip Rummel	RHP

Jason Castro, Catcher

AVG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS
.297	49	185	21	55	17	1	6	38	92	23	37	1	1	.380	.497	.878

The Astros catcher-to-be has been performing well in his first full season in the minors.  He has a high average and good production.  I am a little worried about his 37 strikeouts and his slugging, but hopefully he can turn that around.

T.J. Steele, Outfielder

AVG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS
.227	6	22	1	5	0	0	1	4	8	1	5	0	0	.292	.364	.655

T.J.’s stats aren’t very special, but he has only had 22 at-bats, so it is a little hard to tell how he is performing.

Jack Shuck, Outfielder

AVG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS
.323	46	195	32	63	7	4	0	15	78	23	19	11	2	.394	.400	.794

Jack has been doing really well in Lancaster.  His average of .323 is great and he only has 19 strikeouts which is a sign of someone who has a good eye.  His slugging is pretty low, but if you look at his steals (11), you see that he is a lead off hitter in the making.  I am looking forward to seeing his career progress with the Astros.

Jonathan Gaston, Outfielder

AVG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS
.312	50	173	42	54	13	6	14	36	121	31	46	6	2	.417	.699	1.116

Like Jack Shuck, Jonathan Gaston’s numbers are also good.  He has a .312 average and 6 stolen bases.  Unlike Shuck, his slugging is good.  Very good when you see his 16 homeruns.  These two might make a nice one-two punch in the outfield.

David Flores, Third Baseman

AVG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS
.251	45	171	20	43	14	1	2	18	65	3	24	4	2	.301	.380	.681

David Flores hasn’t been great, but he hasn’t been terrible either.  That being said, I have concerns about his 24 strikeouts and his .251 average.  He has had 171 at-bats and that is plenty of time to show what you are made of.

David Duncan, Left-handed Pitcher

W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	GO/AO	AVG
0	8	8.48	9	9	0	0	0	40.1	69	48	38	7	15	26	1.66	.385

Duncan’s statistics are extremely disappointing.  David was one of the top picks for the Astros, but he has not performed well in Lancaster.  He is going to have to fix things if he hopes to make it to the big leagues and seeing as how he is left-handed, I am sure that the Astros will give him every opportunity.

Christopher Hicks, Right-handed Pitcher

W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	GO/AO	AVG
4	3	6.31	10	10	0	0	0	45.2	70	36	32	7	16	39	1.60	.357

Shane Wolf, Right-handed Pitcher

W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	GO/AO	AVG
1	3	6.58	8	8	0	0	0	39.2	53	30	29	5	8	29	1.15	.319

Phillip Rummel, Right-handed Pitcher

W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	GO/AO	AVG
1	2	7.04	8	1	0	0	0	15.1	29	13	12	1	5	8	2.18	.420

Christopher Hicks, Shane Wolf and Phillip Rummel have all had average performances in single-A.  Their averages are fairly high and their strikeouts (with the exception of Hicks) aren’t mindblowing.  Rummel is of great concern because he has only pitched 15.1 innings, but has a very high ERA during that time.  All four of the 2008 drafted pitchers who are playing with the Jethawks need to step it up.

March 21, 2009: Catcher in the Pie

On January 8, I had a post about the Astros off-season moves that needed to be addressed: starting pitching, centerfield, and catching.

Starting Pitching

The starting pitching continues to be EXTREMELY concerning.  Backe is hurt.  Wandy is somewhat hurt, but it doesn’t look to be serious; however, he isn’t pitching fabulously either.  Oswalt is pitching great, but he is pitching for the US in the WBC, not in Spring Training.  (Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  It would just be nice for the Astros to actually win a game.)  Moehler is pitching pretty good and so is Hampton.  It looks like Ortiz is the front-runner for the fifth spot, but he hasn’t been all that amazing.

Centerfield

Centerfield continues to be alarming.  In Spring Training, Michael Bourn is hitting .184 with 9 strikeouts and 1 error.  Darin Erstad is hitting .263 with 8 strikeouts and 0 errors.  Not real stellar statistics from either of them, but at this point, I think Erstad should be the starter and Bourn the tradebait.

Catcher

The Astros have at least addressed the position of catcher.  At the beginning of Spring Training, there were 4 players vying for the starting spot: Humberto Quintero, JR Towles, Toby Hall and Jason Castro.  It was pretty clear that Castro didn’t have a legitimate shot as he really needs at least one more year in the minors.  In late Feburary, it was revealed that Hall’s season was done before it even started with a torn labrum in his right shoulder.  That left 2 players for starter and back-up.

It has become clear that JR Towles isn’t the future, even as a backup.  And Quintero is the future as back-up, but not as starter.  So that left a HUGE hole to fill Ausmus’ shoes.

But the Astros answered that question on Friday by signing veteran Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez.  I am sure I am not alone when I breathed a sigh of relief.  Clearly, Pudge is not at his prime anymore, but he is still really good and he is also a veteran presence behind the plate with which I feel comfortable.  More than comfortable actually.

There are few catchers out there who call a game and who are as good defensively as Brad Ausmus, but Pudge is nearly his equal.  Plus, he can steal bases which always surprises me.  He must have self-regenerating knees or something.  How many catchers can steal?  Piazza’s knees where bionic towards the end of his career and even that didn’t help him.

And here is something fun to think about… for the first time in a long time, the Astros might not be filling the 8-spot with their catcher.  Of course, that means that one of the position players will be in there which is a bad thing, but SOMEBODY has to go there.  It will be nice to have (hopefully) a catcher who can contribute offensively as well.

This means that Quintero will fill in the back-up role and Towles will go to Round Rock.  Quintero is solid as back-up and, if he stays healthy, will probably be there all year.

But Towles?  Maybe they should look at combining him with Bourn as tradebait for a starting pitcher.

July 11, 2008: Jason Castro, We Hardly Know Ye

Everybody seems to be searching for more information about Jason Castro and they are getting to this blog, so I thought I would write a quick update on what information I know.

Is he still interested in signing with the Astros?

Yes.

Are the Astros still interested in signing him?

YES!

Are the Astros even trying to sign him?

Yes, I believe it is one of Ed Wade’s and Bobby Heck’s number one priorities this month.

Why is there such a delay?

Originally, the Astros had to wait until Stanford was out of the College World Series before they were allowed to talk to Jason.  Assuming they gave Jason a night to recover from the Standford loss, they wouldn’t have approached him until June 23.  That means that we are in day 19 of negotiations.  As of July 9, the Astros have made an offer to Jason and are now awaiting a response from him, his family and his adviser, Steve Hilliard.

Is there any other news?  Anything at all?

On his radio show yesterday, Charlie Pallilo commented that the signing was imminent.  He expected that there would be an announcement next week.

That’s it?

Ed Wade had this to say: “We’re continuing to make progress on it, literally.  It’s hour-to-hour at this point in time. We’re going to remain optimistic that we’re going to get him out in the system sooner rather than later.”

Is there any chance that Jason Castro wouldn’t sign?

There is always a chance, but I doubt it will be a problem.  He was a junior at Stanford, he was excited to be the Astros pick and it sounded like he was going to sign.  He could go back and play his final year with Stanford.  They had a good team and might return to the College World Series.  However, what are the odds he will be picked higher than number ten in the draft?  There were two catchers picked above him, so that feasibly leaves 29 teams who might be interested in picking a catcher next year.  That is assuming he doesn’t get hurt and doesn’t have a terrible 2009 season.  Being the number ten pick with a team that has a great fan base that is known for having good pitching talent AND NEEDS a catcher is a good opportunity for Jason.  I don’t think he would find a better one next year.

Do you have a nickname in mind for him yet?

It’s almost too easy…

• Castro the Astro
• The Castros (especially good if we ever get another Castro on the team)
• Castronomical
• Catchstro
• Jason Astro
• Jason and the Astronauts
• Astro Idol

Write your suggestions below.