Casto not worried about any roadlocks to majors
Senators Third Baseman Looks for Consistency at Bat and in the Field
05/05/2006 Ron Gardner
http://senatorsbaseball.com/cgi-bin/playprof/news.cgi?id=1
Think Harrisburg Senators' third baseman Kory Casto worries about the fact
that the Washington Nationals have proclaimed that Ryan Zimmerman is their
third baseman for the next decade or so?
The reminders of Zimmerman's torrid progression last summer from the fourth
overall selection in the first-year player draft just after Memorial Day,
through Harrisburg where he hit .326 in 63 games, to his arrival in the major
leagues as a 20-year-old rookie before Labor Day are hard to miss in these
parts. Pick up a 2006 Senators pocket schedule, there's Zimmerman. Check out
the Senators web site, there's Zimmerman again at the top of every page. You
will even find Zimmerman pictured on the wrapper of packs of baseball cards
on sale at stores near you. Some within the Nationals' front office,
including general manager Jim Bowden, are already comparing Zimmerman's
defensive prowess to all-time greats like Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt.
You would surely think that Casto, drafted by the-then Montreal Expos in the
third round of the 2003 amateur draft as the 87th overall pick and currently
touted by Baseball America as the Nationals' fifth best prospect, would at
least admit to some degree of concern over his situation, right?
You’d be wrong.
“The fact that there's somebody there in front of you - that's something
you kind of take in stride,” said Casto.“He’s a great guy and a great
player. He's going to be really good. I met him in spring training, he's an
awesome guy. I've got no grudge against him at all. It's just that’s the
way the business is. If I keep hitting, hopefully they'll find a spot for me
or whatever happens, happens. Anything can happen.”
Casto, now in his fourth year of professional baseball, seems to understand
the business side of the game very well and doesn't spend much time worrying
about situations over which he has no control. But he remains keenly focused
on doing those things that will one day land him in the major leagues, either
with the Nationals - or somewhere else.
“(When you're drafted) you really want to make it with that team because
that's the team that was loyal to you, you're loyal to them and you want to
make it through their system,”said Casto.“That doesn't always happen. It's
one of those things where you go out and play and don't worry about what
other people are doing. Hopefully, one day you'll get the chance to play in
the major leagues, whether it's with that team or another team.”
Named as the Nationals’ Minor League Player of the Year for 2005 after
batting .290 with 22 home runs and 90 RBI at Single A Potomac, Casto is
already considered by the Nationals as ready to hit at the big league level.
“Kory's got the best approach on the team, as far as hitting is concerned,”
said Senators manager John Stearns. “He's got a sweet stroke from the left
side and he's going to play in the big leagues someday. He can hit for power
and he uses the whole field and he can hit for average. He's got a major
league bat - it's just a matter of time for him. I think he needs about
600-800 more at bats in the minor leagues and he'll be ready to go, if not
sooner. He's an exciting prospect.”
Casto is a 24-year-old native of Aurora, Oregon, a small rural town
(population 655) located about 40 minutes south of Portland. After a standout
high school career as an outfielder at North Marion High School in Aurora,
Casto was offered a baseball scholarship at the University of Portland, where
he starred as a right fielder for three seasons, earning All-West Coast
Conference second-team honors his junior year. Along with the Expos, the Red
Sox and the A's had expressed interest in Casto, and when draft day arrived,
Casto said he was“shocked”that he was selected as high as he was.
“Teams were talking (about selecting him in rounds) five to ten and then at
the end it started to heat up between a couple of teams,” said Casto. “The
scout from the Expos, Doug McMillan, talked to me a couple of times. I wasn't
really sure where the plans were then. On draft day, I got the call and it was
pretty exciting.”
After being drafted, Casto's first stop in the minors was the Class A
Vermont Expos in the short-season NY-Penn League, where he hit just .239 in
71 games while continuing to play in the outfield. The problem was that Casto
had used a high leg kick in college to start his stride in the batter's box
and that hitting approach wasn't working for him at a professional level.
“I was making a lot of adjustments my first year as far as my swing went,”
said Casto. “I got rid of that (leg kick). That was really tough because
that was my timing mechanism. I really struggled when I made the adjustment –
I was trying to be as patient as I could with it, and then toward the end of
the season, I kind of started to get it down a little bit and feel it.”
On the last day of his rookie season at Vermont, Casto's manager had him
take some ground balls at third base, signaling a big change was blowing in
the wind for Casto. The Expos front office thought that Casto's relative
lack of foot speed made him a better fit at third base rather than chasing
down fly balls in the outfield.
At the start of the 2004 season, Casto's move to third base did not begin
well. In just his third game playing third base for Savannah against
Asheville, a hard ground ball took a bad hop and struck Casto in the face,
fracturing his left eye socket in two places. Casto missed just two weeks of
action from his injury, but the residual psychological impact of the incident
lingered much longer. He committed 35 errors that year – an uncommonly high
number.
“After that, I was a little bit skittish at the third base and made a lot of
errors,”said Casto.“It was a lot to do with getting hit and (also)
changing my throwing (to better suit playing the infield).
While struggling to master his new position, Casto enjoyed much greater
success at the plate for Savannah, hitting .286 with 16 HR and 88 RBI in 124
games. When he was promoted to Potomac for the 2005 season, Casto enjoyed his
best season as a professional and greatly enhanced his status as one of the
Nationals' top prospects. At Potomac, Casto was named to mid- and
post-season Carolina League All-Star teams, pounded out 145 hits in 135
games, despite being walked 84 times as teams pitched around him. Casto also
put together a pair of 10-plus game hitting streaks and doubled at least once
in 11 straight games.
While his results at the plate were an unqualified success, Casto's most
impressive 2005 accomplishment may have been that he was voted the best
defensive third baseman by Carolina League managers.
“I felt like I had a good year (and) put up good numbers, just a little
inconsistent at times,”said Casto.“I think as you grow and mature, your
approach becomes better at the plate. The game kind of slows down for you a
little bit and you learn the ins and outs, especially at third base.”
Following Casto's break-out season in 2005 and with Zimmerman firmly
entrenched as the Nationals' third baseman now and in the future, the team
considered moving Casto to second base to hasten his arrival in Washington.
But during spring training, the Nationals scrapped plans to have Casto try to
play second base, with speculation circulating that Casto might be more
attractive in a potential trade as a third baseman.
“I started playing (second base) a little bit and showed up one day and they
said we're just going to keep you at third this year,”Casto said. "I don’
t know if it's in case something happens to him (Zimmerman) or whatever the
case may be, but they wanted to keep me at third and let me hit. In the
future, if something happens, there might be another position change.”
But another position change isn't imminent, according to the Senators’
manager.
“We felt this year that Kory needed to play third because we didn't want to
change him again,”said Stearns.“We felt like he was coming on defensively
at third. We wanted him to be comfortable and have a good year offensively
here at Double A and if he does that, then we'll have several options in the
future with him. But the main thing we're looking at is his bat. He's the
kind of hitter that you're trying to develop in your player development
system. You don't want to mess with that.”
For now, Casto, whose favorite major league hitter is Todd Helton, keeps his
sights on his immediate future with the Senators and the things he wants to
accomplish this season.
“I want to focus on the defensive side of my game and keep refining that,”
said Casto.“I've played there for two years and that's not very long
considering some guys have played infield all their lives. This year, I just
wanted to get off to a solid start. Last year, I struggled a little bit at
the beginning and then turned it on in the middle of the season, really had a
good middle of the season last season, and then kind of dipped off at the
end. This year, I want to stay consistent the whole year.
“Whether I hit .275 or .300, as long as I feel that my approach was
consistent and I'm not giving at-bats away, I can't really control what
happens. If I hit .300, that’s good. But if you hit more balls hard and hit
.275 or get a couple dinks and hit .300 … they (the coaching staff) put
reports in every night and they know if you hit the ball hard so it doesn't
go unnoticed.”
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