Zach Levine has an update on Jason Castro, who has been sent home - though not due to an injury.
Castro:
"There was a short bit of dialogue about how I was feeling and if it was something I would consider. We thought it was the best choice to start to recoup and look forward to next season."
Ricky Bennett:
"After talking to the staff and spending the week in Arizona, we feel it's time for Jason to rest and focus on the 2010 season. Jason has made tremendous progress throughout his first full season of professional baseball. From a developmental standpoint, he's done everything we've asked of him every step of the way, both offensively and defensively."
This is absolutely the right decision. In 2008 Castro played in the following places:
Stanford: 67 games, 279 ABs
Tri-City: 39 games, 138 ABs
Hawaiian Winter League: 23 games, 78 ABs*
Total: 129 games, 495 ABs
*Captip to Street for the HWL stats, which I forgot...
Now 2009...
Lancaster: 56 games, 243 ABs
Corpus: 63 games, 268 ABs
World Cup: 7 games, 23 ABs
AFL: 11 games, 42 ABs
Total: 139 games, 576 ABs
10 games and 81 ABs might not seem like a lot, but when you're talking about a commuter league like the California League, and then going to the Texas League, and then going to Italy, and then to Arizona...? That's a long long season. Go get some sleep, there, Jason.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
