Jason Castro: Does Houston’s C have Any Fantasy Value?

Photo courtesy of Trei Brundrett.

If you are here to see what Jason Castro can do for your team this season, skip down to the middle. There is nothing wrong with instant gratification and driving a Dodge minivan. If you are awesome and want to read about how Jason Castro has finally arrived to fantasy relevance then by all means please read on.

Houston Astros fans have heard the name Jason Castro ever since he was drafted 10th overall out of Stanford in the 2008 draft.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride for those expecting him to gain fantasy relevance at some point. He was ranked the 53rd best prospect in Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects for 2009. He was on fantasy player’s radars, especially those in dynasty leagues. The future looked bright for this up and coming catcher.

He was brought up to Houston in June of 2010 and was expected to be an immediate contributor to a team that began its eventual slide into baseball’s worst team. Predictions of an immediate contribution became a dismal reality of him hitting .205 in 195 at-bats.

Things always get worse before they get better. He suffered a torn meniscus and ACL in the second spring training game of 2011 ending his season before it began.

The player on top prospect lists from 2009 and 2010 started to show glimmers of his former self as he gained 257 at-bats with the Astros last season. He hit .257 while slugging .401.

At this point you are asking yourself, “Why am I reading about an average catcher that loves the disabled list?” This is the part where the Dodge minivan drivers will get excited.

Jason had an OPS of .720 in the month of August and an OPS of .865 in September. At this point it seems that he started to figure out major league pitching over the last two months of the season.

He has continued his hot hitting during spring training this year. He leads the Astros with five homers and is hitting .342. He is injury free and beginning to show the Astros organization what might be coming to Minute Maid Park sooner than some think.

He has 15+ home runs in him and should hit somewhere between .265 and .275 this season. He is not going to drive in many runs, as other than Jose Altuve there will not be a lot of run producers hitting ahead of him. For now I see him driving in 60 runs and scoring that many as well. You can do much worse if you are in need of a catcher or looking for an injury replacement.

You should be able to draft him in the last few rounds or pick him up off of the waiver wire. When the season is all said and done he will rank higher than a lot of catchers being taken ahead of him. Jason Castro will be a very stealthy acquisition for your team. He has a lot of upside if he can stay healthy.