The Caller Times' Joel Roza (one of our favorites), went off about the call-up of Jason Castro, calling it the biggest move since the Beltran trade. It's a very worthwhile read.
Hunter Pence was big; Castro is bigger because of what rides on his immediate impact. When Pence found his way into Houston, the Astros were in the dumpster and were all about riding the Craig Biggio 3,000 hits train. Fans love Pence because he hustles, works hard and is always enthusiastic. Those are great attributes, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough to save any seasons or jobs...
...Scouting reports mostly agree on Castro being an average defender at the big league level with fringe power (10-15 homer range) and an ability to hit for average. I got the chance to see plenty of him last season here in Corpus and I was impressed with his ability to call games and his natural instinct for when and when not to approach the pitcher. My only concern was his ability to throw out base runners. In more than a couple instances, a routine throw to second could become anything but. But that was my six-game sample and he was still in Double-A – land of the errors.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
