Ramon Castro

From The Met Wiki

Age: 33 (born March 1, 1976)

Position: Catcher

Bats: Right Throws: Right

Number: 11

Acquired: Free agent

Contract: 2 year, $4.6 million 2008-2009

Ramon Castro has been the Mets primary backup catcher since 2005. He is a good hitter, who puts up substantial power numbers and RBI's. Unfortunately, he is very injury prone and has not been available for long stretches at a time.

Through the end of April 2009, in 652 Met at bats Castro hit 31 homers and drove in 112 runs, with an .872 OPS. Castro has been the class clown in the dugout, lightening the mood. Ron Darling described him as this club's Roger McDowell. He is known for his practical jokes and his most notable song during his Shea Stadium at bats is "Storm Trooper" from Star Wars.

And yet, his managers seem to have always considered him a disappointment. Adam Rubin writes that Jerry Manuel would prefer to keep Omir Santos (Manuel's decision to start Santos 4 times out of 5 and then to have him pinch hit for Castro in the other game was a pretty strong clue). He continues ...

"Randolph, too, once snidely said of Castro when I asked if he could be a No. 1 catcher: 'If he wants to be.' I pressed by asking what Randolph meant, and he replied: 'You know what I mean.'"

In what should have been Castro's biggest opportunity, when Paul Lo Duca got hurt going into September 2007, Castro got hurt too, and the Mets needed to turn to replacement level catchers in their historic September collapse. Castro did return for the final week and in three games had a walk, two singles, and two homers. He almost made himself a hero when his bases loaded blast almost put the Mets back in the game on the last day of the season, but the shot died on the Shea Stadium warning track.

On May 30 the Mets traded Ramon for Lance Broadway