Jason

Castro

Castro opened and finished his 12-year career with the Astros, spending time with the Twins, Angels and Padres in between. His best season and single All-Star appearance came in 2013, when he hit .276/.350/.485 with 18 homers in 491 plate appearances. He was often injured in his 30s, and he had played a total of just 225 games the last five years. Still, the World Series ring he received after playing in 34 games last season is a nice way to finish up.

Castro recently required surgery to repair his meniscus in his left knee and is done for the season.

Specifically, he said that Castro isn’t doing well and that there would be additional news on him soon. That sounds like he could be heading for some sort of surgical procedure. At this point, there’s no clear timeline for a potential return.

No word yet on the severity of the issue, or how much time the veteran backstop will miss -- though he’ll be sidelined for at least a couple of weeks. Korey Lee was promoted from Triple-A Sugar Land to take his place on the active roster. and to function as the primary backup behind Martin Maldonado.

Justin Verlander and Taijuan Walker were locked in a pitcher’s duel all afternoon before Castro and the Astros finally broke through versus reliever Drew Smith. It was quite a time for the first home run of the season for Castro, who came into action Wednesday with a .312 OPS and one RBI all season.

Castro drove in Yordan Alvarez with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to extend the Astros lead to 2-0. It would prove to be the difference in the game. He also drew a walk in the contest, finishing the night 0-for-1 officially. On the season, the veteran backstop is hitting a brutal .125/.265/.175 with zero homers and one RBI in 49 plate appearances.

Of course it was Castro -- who entered the game 0-for-8 on the season -- to break up Ohtani’s shot at history. It wound up being the Astros’ only hit of the night and just one of two baserunners. Castro has made four starts at catcher so far this season to Martin Maldonado’s eight starts.

Castro has been absent from the Astros’ lineup for nearly a week due to an unspecified ailment, but is expected to return to action this weekend. Barring any further developments, the 34-year-old veteran backstop should be ready to go on Opening Day next week.

Castro hasn’t caught in a Grapefruit League contest since last Thursday, but Baker declined to comment any further on his health status. Okay. We’ll see, we guess. It’s unclear whether the veteran catcher will be ready for the start of the regular season at this point.

Castro was removed from the team’s roster prior to Game 5 after testing positive for coronavirus. Martin Maldonado will continue to be Houston’s regular catcher and Garrett Stubbs will back up.