The Minnesota Twins and catcher Jason Castro have apparently reached agreement on a 3-year $24.5 deal. The 29-year-old catcher was a first round selection (10th) overall of the Houston Astros in 2008. That same year the Twins selected outfielder Aaron Hicks as the 14th pick and the San Francisco Giants selected catcher Buster Posey with the fifth pick in round one. After being selected in 2008 Castro made his major league debut on June 22, 2010 and he has been in the big leagues ever since. Castro missed the entire 2011 season due to knee surgery and showed up on the Astros’s DL in 2012, 2013, and 2015. Castro was an All-Star in 2013, the first year Houston was in the American league and he has some playoff experience on his resume.
Castro is not known for his hitting skills but is deemed to be very good behind the plate in calling games and framing pitches. Castro has thrown out 26% of base thieves while with Houston and his mark in 2016 was 24%. His best season throwing out runners was in 2015 when he threw out 36%.
Castro has some pop with his bat having hit 62 career home runs over six seasons but you have to remember that Houston is not exactly Yellowstone Park so I would expect his home run count to drop slightly at Target Field. Prone to strike out (between 115-151 times the last four seasons), Castro, a left-handed hitter has career average of .232 but he has hit .210 and .211 the last two years. Castro had a .307 OBP in 2016, the first time it has been north of .300 in the last three years.
I like the addition of Jason Castro and I think he and John Ryan Murphy will make a nice platoon catching tandem for the 2017 Minnesota Twins.