Jason Castro Really the Left-Handed Buster Posey?
By Josh Sippie
Jason Castro was drafted 10th overall by the Houston Astros in 2008. Any first round pick carries with it immense pressure and expectations and Jason Castro was no exception. To make matters even more pressurizing, Buster Posey was picked five picks ahead of him. Many called Jason Castro the “left-handed Buster Posey.”
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The problem with comparisons like that is when things just don’t work out the way they were expected. Both Castro and Posey have suffered season ending injuries, Castro tore an ACL on an awkward landing at first base and Posey suffered a fractured fibula and torn ligaments in his ankle in the infamous collision with Scott Cousins. But that’s about where the similarities end.
Defensively, the two have only one real similarity. Jason Castro’s career caught stealing percentage is at 26% whereas Buster Posey isn’t too far away at 32%. However, Buster Posey has only allowed 14 past balls in 493 games. Jason Castro has allowed 38 in 384 games.
Clearly it’s not defensively that Castro is the left-handed Posey, so maybe it’s offensively? Here’s the stats (from baseball-reference):
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I think it’s safe to say that, given that they’re both 28, Jason Castro is not the “left-handed Buster Posey” like he was supposed to be. While you could feasibly blame his stunted progression on his injury, Buster Posey had a pretty terrifying injury as well.
Buster Posey is also the front runner in the awards department, as he was the 2010 Rookie of the year, 2012 MVP, and he’s a two-time all star and two-time silver slugger. Jason Castro just has one all star appearance.
It might still be a little early to call Jason Castro a downright flop, although he hasn’t hit over .230 since his all-star season. Castro still contributes defensively. Take this year for instance. Jason Castro has only allowed 57% of potential stolen bases. Buster Poster Posey isn’t far ahead with allowing 56% of potential steals.
The Houston Astros may be running out of patience with Jason Castro, however, as they were openly shopping the backstop around during the offseason. Not only that, but they have Max Stassi waiting in the ranks. Stassi has touched down in the Majors and showed excellent offensive prowess in the minors.
Aside from that, the Astros somewhat conspicuously added Hank Conger in the offseason to bring their catcher total to three. They did (also somewhat conspicuously) trade Carlos Perez away in the process of acquiring Conger (how’s that looking now?), but in the end, it still falls on Jason Castro to be the the primary backstop of the Houston Astros.
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The Astros may have the intention of dishing Castro in the long run, but if he keeps hitting under .230, that’s going to be hard to do. Although, it’s not like many on the Astros roster are hitting much better. Catcher is a premium position though, and .230 isn’t the worst ever, but if a guy like Stassi can hit .275, how long will it be before the Astros make the shift?
We’ll just have to wait and see what the plan for Castro is. Given his excellent work ethic and overall talent, he still has what it takes to kick it in gear but time is running out if he’s going to remain at catcher, especially with knees that have plagued him in the past. A move to the now-strangely-open first base may be more to his benefit than remaining behind the plate.