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Jason Castro is the 19th-most owned catcher in Yahoo fantasy leagues. Jason Castro is also the 10th-most productive catcher, according to Yahoo rankings.
I'll put that another way. Castro is, through two months of the season, a top-ten fantasy catcher. And he is 29% owned.
Go through the other positions and compare. You'll find that the lowest-owned top-ten first basemen are Michael Cuddyer and Mark Reynolds, both at 87%. At second base, it's 71%-owned Daniel Murphy. 75%-owned Matt Carpenter is the lowest-owned top-ten third baseman. Brandon Crawford, the shortstop, is owned in 48% of leagues. And Daniel Nava, at 55%, is the lowest-owned top-30 outfielder. (I expanded because, well, obvious reasons. You're smart; you can figure it out.)
In short, there is no greater disparity between production as of June 4 and ownership than there is with Jason Castro. Maybe it's because he's on the Astros. I wouldn't blame you for overlooking them. But in a world where Jesus Montero is still 21% owned, I don't get it. If you're paying attention, Castro deserves at least a shot.
Castro has been winning over some of his prior detractors already this year. Now, it's true that his BABIP and K% are high, and he's unlikely to maintain his .803 OPS the entire year. But with 24 runs, he's amid big names in those rankings, and 7 homers are nice, as well.
He can hit. He can't hit like Buster Posey, but then only Buster Posey can hit like Buster Posey. In a 10-team, single-catcher league, maybe you can get by ignoring Castro. Anything deeper, and he needs to be on a roster, if for no other reason than to keep someone else from capitalizing on that production.
The biggest question when Castro was coming up was his defense, and even then he ranked 65th in Keith Law's prospect rankings in 2010 (behind the pay wall). Everyone thought he'd be an average-to-decent hitter. That's what he is. If you add Castro, you aren't adding the next Posey. But if you add Castro - whether because you've been flailing in the wake of Montero's demotion, or you're tired of Miguel Montero, or you aren't quite sure if Salvador Perez is another failed, overhyped Royals prospect - you are likely to end up with a catcher who, even if he falls from the top ten, will provide a positive return on investment going forward.
And really, "a positive return on investment" is all you can ever ask for. If everyone on your roster provides that, you win your league.
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