The Astros have placed catcher Jason Castro on the injured list because of a knee injury, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Fellow catcher Garrett Stubbs has been recalled to take his place.
Signed to a two-year, $7MM deal in the offseason, Castro has been serving as the club’s backup catcher, behind Martin Maldonado. In 55 games and 152 plate appearances, Castro has a line of .190/.320/.333, numbers that aren’t too far from his career line of .228/.313/.387. He’s long been known as a defense-first catcher, with the limited offensive output being part of the deal. However, as he’s aged and accrued more injuries, his defensive contributions have started to sag.
As for Stubbs, he’s been pushing the third string catcher experience to the max, having been optioned six times already this season, but only getting into nine big-league games for 25 plate appearances. In 34 Triple-A games this year, the 28-year-old has a s0lid line of .280/.415/.383, for a wRC+ of 110.
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
This was never a good signing with Stubbs equaling, or beating, any efforts from Castro.
I agree.
Would’ve been more effective if Baker worked splits with Castro and Maldonado.
Castro calls a better game & has better pitch framing abilities. His actual catcher work far exceeds Stubbs. Stubbs however is better with the bat.
Tough break for Castro and the Astros. Garrett Stubbs is very fringy. First round pick Korey Lee who is currently at AA should arrive within the next year or two.
Agreed—Lee, right now, is the Astros catcher of the future. Signing Castro was a feel-good thing with the hope he could rebound to close to good at the plate. That hasn’t happened. It’s been shown as a mistake and Stubbs should be the #2 guy going forward and the Astros should trade Castro in the off-season for whatever they can get. A back-up catcher that can provide veteran experience for only 7 million isn’t bad for most clubs—Houston already has that in Maldonado.
The different Catchers and all three hitting in the .170s
Their value is behind the plate. Whatever they do with the bat is a bonus.