No Need for Astros to Rush Jason Castro Back

In Thursday’s 4-2 loss to the Yankees, Jason Castro was hit by a pitch twice before being taken out of the game.

The second HBP was the one that did the damage and ultimately led to him being taken out of the game. According to Bo Porter, he is day-to-day and a trip to the Disabled List is not expected. Evan Drellich reported yesterday that the swelling had gone down and was improved from a day earlier.

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We’ve seen this before. We’ve been talking about this since the Jesus Guzman acquisition. With the versatility of this roster, there is no reason to rush Castro (our 2013 MVP) back from any setback, even if it is a minor one. Although, it was a completely different type of injury, we’ve already seen Castro miss nearly an entire season due to injury. Whether he is injury prone or has just had bad luck in the past still remains to be seen.

The Astros have one of the better backup catchers in the league in Carlos Corporan. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t leave him behind the plate the next couple of games to get Castro back to 100%. Working him into the DH spot before putting him back behind the plate seems ideal considering it was an ankle/foot injury. Expect the Astros to play it smart on this one, especially this early in the season.