The Phillies needed Nick Castellanos to start looking like his old self this season, and not just because they gave him a 5-year, $100 million contract last year. The Phillies lost a lot of pop in the heart of their lineup when Rhys Hoskins went down with a torn ACL at the end of spring training. Through ten games this season, Castellanos is starting to look a lot more like the guy they dished out the big-money deal to and less like the guy who struggled throughout 2022.
Nick Castellanos still doesn’t quite look like his all-star form from 2021 when he mashed 30 home runs and hit .309, but the signs are there from the Phillies right fielder. Unfortunately, a lack of plate discipline doomed Castellanos in 2022 – especially in the playoffs when he was chasing anything and everything.
Through ten games, Castellanos has six walks after collecting just 29 all last season. That puts him on pace for 97 on the season. His walk to start the 9th inning on Saturday afternoon started the Phillies rally that ended in a comeback win. That’s a pitch that Castellanos would not have laid off of last year. He was also a freaking menace to Reds pitcher Alexis Diaz in that rally when the Reds didn’t hold him on third base.
With another double last night, Castellanos has three in his previous four games and seven on the season already. He hit just 27 last year – the second-fewest of his career in seasons where he played at least 100 games. He obviously won’t keep this torrid pace, but if he did, it projects out to 117 on the season. The MLB record for doubles in a season is 67. Casty isn’t going to break that record by 50, but that just shows the pace that he’s on to start the season. He is currently tied with Matt Chapman of Toronto for the most in the majors.
After a 3 for 5 night with 3 RBI on Monday in the Phillies’ blowout of the Marlins, Castellanos has six RBI on the season. He had 62 all last season.
The positive signs are there for Castellanos this year, but there is also still more work for him to do.
Strikeouts Still A Concern
One byproduct of Castellanos having more plate discipline is he is also striking out a lot more this year. He’s already whiffed 17 times in 10 games, largely because he is looking at some more borderline pitches. Monday night, for instance, he laid off a pitch that was inside and looked like it was clearly a ball, but he got rung up looking. Castellanos disagreed and used his bat to mark in the box where the pitch was and was subsequently tossed.
Castellanos will need to find a happy medium here as the season progresses because he is tied with JD Martinez for the most strikeouts in all major league baseball.
Power Numbers Not Quite There Yet
While his double numbers are way up, Castellanos is still looking for his first home run of the season after ten games. Castellanos was down in the home run department in a big way last year, going from a career-high 34 in 2021 to just 13 last year. 2021 was the only time he topped 30 home runs in his career, so a return to that level was never a realistic expectation for 2023, but a return to the low to mid-20s certainly was. He had 23 and 26 home runs in his last two years in Detroit, in which he played nearly an entire season.
Castellanos’s slugging percentage dipped to a career-low .389 last year after a slugging .576 in 2021. However, he’s right in the middle of that range in the early goings of 2023 at .472, which is right at his career average of .475.
In his huge 2021 season, Castellanos hit seven (7) of his 34 home runs in April but ended the month with just six (6) doubles. So he’s already well ahead of his doubles pace. If he can find his home run swing and a happy medium between his increased walk and strikeout rate, he’ll look a lot like the guy everyone thought the Phillies were getting when they handed out that contract.
