Who’s Hot This Week? Jason Castro

This seemed like a pretty simple feature. Each week, I will highlight an Astros player who is standing out among his peers. That player may not be the best player on the team, or even statistically the best that week, but deserving of recognition.

Jason Castro (Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports)

But this week, it isn’t so easy. Houston is coming off of a four game sweep at home courtesy of the Texas Rangers, and they are lucky that their bullpen did not blow Tuesday night’s game. Now, we know all about the recent exploits of rookie pitchers Jarred Cosart and Brett Oberholtzer. Plus, they have been discussed in detail on this website. That would be the easy answer.

So as to not take anything away from them, I am going with Jason Castro for this week’s pick.

Castro came out of the gates strong this season and deservedly made the All-Star team. However, that selection was based mostly on the catcher’s .274 average in April and his .292 performance in May. In June, Castro’s average slumped to .239 and he had batted .253 in July.

It is understandable that Castro would have a regression as this is his first true major league season. But so far in August, Castro has bounced back in a big way and has proved that his All-Star selection was not without merit.

Entering Wednesday night’s game, Castro is hitting .342 on the month and .353 in his last 10 games.

The one thing that I have to give Castro credit for, is that his run production and doubles have remained pretty consistent each month. But the main thing is that the catcher was able to rebound and prove that he is a player the Astros can count on going forward. Plus, with Max Stassi tearing it up in Corpus Christi, it’s not like the position is without competition.