CV’s Jason Castro Helps Astros Get to the Fall Classic
Photo courtesy of Eric Enfermero under Creative Commons
Although you won’t see him on the field playing in this year's World Series, Castro Valley's Jason Castro was key in getting the Houston Astros their winning record and on their path to the postseason.
Back on June 29, Castro, along with pitcher Justin Verlander, helped lead a 2–0 shutout of the New York Mets. Castro's two-run home run supplied all the offense in the game while tripling his RBI season total from one to three. The game was key to Houston's march to the top of the American League.
However, two days later, on July 1, the Astros placed Castro on the 10-day injured list due to left knee discomfort. A month later, the Astros said that Castro underwent surgery to repair the meniscus in his left knee and would miss the rest of the 2022 season. This is the second year in a row that the Astros have gone to the World Series. The first time without Castro. Last year, he was the backup catcher for Martin Maldonado, but pinch-hit in Game 1 and Game 3 against the Atlanta Braves. He missed the rest of the World Series after testing positive for COVID-19.
Castro may be retiring after this season, he told MLB News earlier this year. At 34, Castro is in the final year of his contract with the Astros.
“I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but my main focus is this season and making this the best season that I can, from a personal perspective, from a team perspective,” he told Brian McTaggart with MLB News. “That’s the first goal, first and foremost.”
Castro was selected by the Astros in the first round of the 2008 MLB Draft. He played for Houston in 2010, and then a four-year stint with the team between 2012 and 2016. He was traded to Minnesota Twins in 2017 where he stayed for two years and then bounced between the Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres before returning to Houston in 2021.
And while Jason’s baseball career put Castro Valley on a national stage, his success on and off the field comes as no surprise to Jason’s high school coach.
“You could not ask for a better person to represent Castro Valley,” said former Castro Valley High School baseball coach, Jon Lavine. “He was a professional when he was 15 and he is a professional today.”
Coach Lavine managed Jason between 2003 and 2005 and was impressed enough with the Sophomore to add him to the Boys Varsity team. In that three-year period, the Trojans qualified for North Coast Section each year and had a winning in-league record of 41-7 and an overall record of 67-22.
Lavine says Jason's injuries are unfortunate but not uncommon in the league.
"The position Jason plays, as a catcher, and the wear and tear of the squatting position for 9 to 10 months out of the year can take a toll, Lavine says. "You put it in the context of other big league players in Jason's draft class like Buster Posey with the San Francisco Giants and Jason's been blessed to be able to do it for so long for that long and that well."
For younger players, Coach Lavine suggests a solid stretching routine like yoga and Pilates to remain loose and a lot of rest and downtime, even from baseball itself.
"Jason played basketball in his senior year. And he asked me if I thought if it was a good idea. I told him sometimes the best to do in baseball is to take time away from it because it will wear you down," Lavine said.
Off the field, Jason has given back to the Houston community. He and his wife Maris started a charity in 2013 called Castro’s Kids. The program donated more than 60,000 books to the Houston Independent School District (HISD) over a four-year period. The couple also supports a no-kill animal shelter based in Houston, called Friends for Life.