Castro has looked very good behind the plate. I wouldn't know he was a rookie in that regard if I didn't know who he was.
4 Astros minor leaguers have been suspended 50 games for PED use: Danny Meszaros Richard Rodriguez Jonathon Fixler Marcos Cabral
This is true, but I was hoping he would hit better than he has. It take him some time to adjust to hit at AAA, so hopefully it is coming. I they were just saying on the St. Louis broadcast, that the current promotion is that your ticket to the game is discounted based on how many runs the opponent scores in that series. So apparently in this series, the DisAstros have discounted Cards fan $29 off their tickets for this series. Come on DisAstros, lets get them a bigger discount!!!
He's barely gotten his feet wet. As much as you want to temper expectations for guys like CJ and Sanchez, you don't want to read too much into Castro's numbers. I think it's clear that he does have good pitch recognition and an ability to lay off pitches. Also, without looking at the stats, I think he's been a little unlucky so far with his balls in play. I remember quite a few well hit balls that didn't find gaps. I think Castro has a chance to be a .350+ OBP guy in the future with average pop. If that ends up being the case, I think the question is where you slot him in the lineup. Could he be a #2 hitter? He has good speed for a catcher but isn't terribly fast. He is lefthanded which is conducive to hitting 2nd. If he doesn't fit there, I still think you want him in front of an RBI guy because of his ability to get on base. Maybe he can hit 6th and drive in some runs while also getting driven in by a decent 7th hitter.
Speaking of Castro... first triple of his career. It was helped by Rasmus diving and missing the ball but that was a ball in play where he had some good fortune after ripping a liner in his previous AB right to Rasmus' glove.
I always found it interesting that if an infielder made a similar mistake on a ball it would often be counted as an error, but when an outfielder misplay misjudges a ball like that it a hit. It was well hit by Catro though. Come on Blum, let make it a $32 discount.
@richardjustice: RT @injuryexpert: The more I hear about the Rangers auction, the more I think Nolan Ryan is going to end up owning a team. The Astros.
Just asked a stats guy about Castro's BABIP and it confirms what my eyes told me: Q: Has Castro had bad luck according to his BABIP or whatever? It seems like he’s hit quite a few balls pretty well this season that haven’t found gaps. A: Very much so His BABIP at the ML level this year is WAY below his minor league average by almost 100 points (it should drop, but not that much), and it’s not like isn’t hitting the ball hard because he’s hit liners on over a quarter of his plate appearances.
lol... thanks for sharing. He is struggling offensively but no, he doesn't suck. I was really hoping that he could build off last year and put up another .350+ OBP. Quietly, I was hoping for .360+. It isn't looking like that'll be the case and he's regressed against LHP after posting even splits in 2009. He's walking at a career-high pace this season and his strikeout rate is actually down from the last 2 seasons but he's simply not hitting enough. It may be partially bad luck but he hasn't looked very comfortable at the plate for a while now.
Bourn's BABIP suggests that last year was pretty flukey and that this year is more of a true reflection of his ability. He's still young though, so the trends probably aren't as set in stone as a player older than 30.
Good catch. I was actually thinking about that possibility while typing the last post. Oh well, it is what it is... no doubt about the glove at least. On another note, I turned up the volume midway through Mills' postgame so I may have misinterpreted what I heard but it appeared that he was relatively critical when talking about Happ's performance compared to his typical commentary. He said something to the effect of: "You asked me the other day what we expect from Happ. Well, we expect him to be able to make adjustments and he wasn't able to do that today." He went on to speculate about what Happ may have been doing wrong and sounded a bit frustrated throughout. Those comments were anything but harsh and I totally agree with him. I listen to a lot of post-games though and he was a little more critical than I've seen him i the past. I suppose he's getting more comfortable in his role and feeling less of a need to try to put positive slants on everything.
Didn't watch the game and probably won't but I did notice Wallace got another hit and walked again, looks like he is showing good plate discipline. Castro got that avg above the mendoza line which is nice to see and Johnson seems to have found his power stroke.
I'm not too worried about last year being a fluke for Bourn. We all saw last year how he visibly improved his understanding of the game, it wasn't like he was playing the same way and just getting lucky more. He was going opposite field and showed some plate discipline. This year he is striking out more (it seems) but I believe that he's been less concentrated on going opposite field and working on hitting for more power so he can become a complete hitter. So far it hasn't been working out but don't expect him to be a .250 hitter next season IMO.
Didn't catch any of the post game but I'm really surprised Mills was critical of his game. I don't remember him being critical of any of his players in the past.
