Kory Casto, the man without a position, has tore up The Grapefruit League hitting. Kory has banged out 11 hits, knocked in four runs, along with a robust on base percentage of .472 in limited playing time. But, its not going to matter over the next 10 days.
As much as Our Washington Nationals are claiming Casto is making their late Spring Cuts far more difficult than anticipated, Casto is going to be sent to AAA Columbus. Unless there is an injury to another player, He does not make The Opening Day Roster. And, its not a bad thing. A 3rd Baseman by trade, Kory has no chance to play the hot corner with The Nationals. Ryan Zimmerman will be in that spot for years to come. So, Casto moved to Left Field last year at AA Harrisburg to learn a new position, because of "Z". He flourished. Now, with a logjam of Out Of Options players in Ryan Church and Chris Snelling in Washington's Left Field--Casto has been working at First Base--learning yet another position. His versatility alone at three different positions will get him to The Major Leagues very soon.
Kory Casto is pushing, not only the veteran players in front of him, but also management to take notice of his skills. Obviously, everyone has. But, for Casto to take the big step up, Our Washington Nationals need to make the moves that benefit the teams long term plans, and send him down. That plan includes Church and Snelling getting quality playing time to make an impression of their own, on The Major League Roster. If Church plays well, you can bet, his trade stock will increase significantly. Church and Snelling playing well actually benefits Casto's development. If Ryan and Chris get off to hot starts, other teams might call for their services. If one or the other does not play well, Kory can get the call up. Its a no lose situation.
Playing everyday for The Clippers at AAA, you can bet, when Kory does get that call up to the Majors, he will be ready--most likely staying for years to come. Kory Casto would be fighting for playing time on The Major League Roster come April 2nd if on The Nationals Roster. No one wants to see that. Why rush a player now, whether he's ready or not, at the expense of improving your team over a few more months? Kory Casto will be in the Majors before September, 2007. He may well be disappointed next week when the final word come down, but he should not be deterred.
General Manager Jim Bowden knows; Manager Manny Acta knows; All Management knows Casto can play. All are relishing the fact that Kory wants it badly. Casto will be rewarded, as Our Washington Nationals slowly, patiently, build their team of the future. Those are the breaks of the game.
To use the phrase of my good friend SenatorNat: ITS ALL GOOD!
3 comments:
Your analysis is spot on. As much as I would like to see Casto on the team immediately, I do prefer he go to Columbus for the time being so that we can keep Snelling.
If R.Church can get off to a hot start, does the team do him a favor and trade him??? I think the Nats have tried really hard to give Church all his shots and I think because Snelling is younger we should keep him over Ryan. I am looking forward to seeing Casto because he and Zim could be the start of the young GUNS changing this franchise for the better. We shall see what happens but in the end we the fans will miss one of the guys playing left field and we the fans look forward to seeing the future in Casto!
Did anyone in the blogosphere go to the community meeting Thursday night? About 200 mostly angry stadium neighbors attended the Nats' and DDOT's presentations on how the new stadium is to affect traffic. People who live my way (along the red line), I'm guessing, would be well served to find a green line stop and take Metro, which will exit much closer to the ballpark than the current Metro stop does. Virginians probably have the fewest good options. Driving will be very difficult, and parking will be scarce (less than 5000 spaces) and expensive. The Nats are negotiating supplying shuttle buses from the RFK parking lots. That might help a bit.
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