Castro captures second AL weekly honor
CHICAGO -- Not long after finding out he won his second American League Player of the Week award, Astros catcher Jason Castro started working on a third by hitting his 18th home run in his first at-bat of Monday's game against the White Sox.
Castro received the honor for the week of Aug. 19-25, during which he hit .529 (9-for-17) with two doubles, three home runs and five RBIs with a .619 on-base percentage, 1.294 slugging percentage and 1.913 OPS. He led the AL in batting average and extra-base hits in that span.
"It's pretty cool," said Castro, who also won May 20-26. "It's an honor to receive the award again. I put in a lot of work and I was actually kind of unaware. Over the past week, we've been traveling so much I haven't really put much thought into it. I know I've been feeling pretty good and I put a few good games together.
"With all the traveling, and we were only home for three days, I didn't really put together that it was even a possibility. I got a call from [Astros manager] Bo [Porter] today and he let me know that I had been chosen again for this. It's an honor and I'm grateful to receive it."
The previous Astros player to win the Player of the Week Award twice in a season was Lance Berkman in 2008, when the team was in the National League. He's the first Astros catcher to win a Player of the Week Award since Craig Biggio in 1990.
Castro, a former first-round pick who missed all of the 2008 season following knee surgery, entered Monday hitting .278 with 33 doubles, 17 homers and 51 RBIs. His 33 doubles are a franchise record for catchers and currently rank eighth in the AL. Among AL catchers, he ranked first in slugging (.490), second in OPS (.842), and third in hits, doubles and home runs.
"It couldn't happen to a better guy," Porter said. "You're talking about a guy who has battled a lot of adversity early on in his career. He couldn't stay healthy. It was a credit to him and the training staff and all the work he put in, in preparation for this season."
In recognition of his AL Player of the Week Award, Jason Castro will be awarded with his second engraved watch courtesy of Game Time.
"I could wear one on each wrist or maybe two on one," Castro joked.