Star Performer of the Week May 20 – 26

The Star Performer Award has been on hiatus for a while due to the Astros overall poor play. Even though the team went 2-4 this week, there were a few reasons for optimism. J.D. Martinez, whom Ray penned an article about on Saturday, has been swinging a productive bat and earns honorable mention this week. Martinez was 7 for 22 with a pair of homers and six RBIs.

Matt Dominguez seems to have found his power stroke and gets the nod as this week’s runner-up. Dominguez launched four homers while going 7 for 19 on the week.

With the possible exception of Mike Trout, no one in the league has been hotter than Jason Castro. The Astros catcher and sometimes DH followed up Saturday’s 3-hit, 2-homerun performance with a four hit game on Sunday. Overall, Castro went 11 for 19 during the week, raising his batting average forty points in the process. Castro totaled three homers, five RBIs, three walks, and five runs scored in what has to be the best offensive week turned in by an Astro in quite some time.

I was a bit hesitant to give out this award at the risk of jinxing Castro. My article announcing Jose Veras as the hottest closer in the American League didn’t help his cause. Veras promptly went out and blew a 2-run lead against the A’s and was hung with the loss in his next outing. But the facts must be reported. No matter what happens in the upcoming weeks, Jason Castro had a week for the ages. Let’s just hope he continues to hit and finally proves that the Astros didn’t make a mistake when they drafted him in the first round back in 2008.

Jason Castro (Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports)

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