The Most Curious (Mis)Perception Among Phillies Fans
Nick Castellanos slid into second in the third inning on Friday to reach scoring position with two outs. His fifth stolen base of the season came just after his RBI single put the Philadelphia Phillies up 1-0. A single from J.T. Realmuto drove him home to build a two-run cushion in an eventual 3-2 victory.
The veteran outfielder finished the month of April with a .193 batting average and a dismal .263 slugging percentage.
Some Phillies fans screamed for the front office to trade him. Their perception of a free-swinger with a superficially nonchalant demeanor who’d underperformed for long stretches of his tenure in Philadelphia had reached its limit in their minds.
Castellanos is about the last member of a Phillies team praised locally for their likeability that fans would’ve pegged as one of the hardest workers on the team this season.
Perception of Nick Castellanos
The Phillies passed the luxury tax threshold entering the 2022 season with a spending spree that culminated in a five-year, $100 million deal for Castellanos during spring training.
He’d posted career highs across an outstanding .309/.362/.576 slash line, 34 home runs, and 38 doubles in his first career All-Star season in 2021. The former Cincinnati Reds slugger added pop to a lineup that looked threatening enough to push the Phillies to the next level.
Castellanos didn’t live up to the contract in 2022. His batting average dropped 36 points while his OPS plummeted from .939 to .694 in just one season. His hard hit rate similarly dropped to suggest the production shouldn’t be written off simply as natural regression.
The provincial Philadelphia fan base tends to exert their tremendous passion with a more narrow focus on players’ contributions in the City of Brotherly Love without too much concern for previous accomplishments elsewhere.
Nick Castellanos hadn’t proven much with the Phillies. A high-priced free agent who casually wore his jersey unbuttoned and underperformed relative to expectations didn’t exactly align with a beloved hard-nosed hero like Bryce Harper.
When he bounced back from the rough 2022 campaign with an All-Star effort in the first half of 2023, he still didn’t enter the ranks of fan favorites. He hadn’t fully redeemed himself yet, and the lack of fanfare probably wasn’t fully separate from the perception of his demeanor on the field.
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A few mix-ups with the local media didn’t help. The confluence of multiple factors made him the convenient scapegoat for an offensive drought in the heartbreaking NLCS loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023.
Harper and Trea Turner went cold in a less extreme manner with underwhelming numbers in the series. However, Castellanos made himself more of a target. His outstanding hot streak in the first two rounds of the playoffs paled in comparison to his 1/26 effort against Arizona.
He made it through an offseason full of conflicting reports about his trade availability, but the weak start to the 2024 season added fuel to a fire of negative fan perception toward a player who hadn’t endeared himself the way a lot of his teammates had.
Was the lack of success due to a lack of hard work or the superficial appearance exemplified by an unbuttoned jersey?
His free-swinging tendencies made it an easy assertion. He validated that criticism in the minds of many fans, whether intentionally or unintentionally, fairly or unfairly, after a strong game against the Miami Marlins on May 10.
“I’m not worried so much about chasing or being so hard on myself trying to have a plan or what not. Just go up there with no thoughts and just swing. See ball. Hit ball… My whole career, I’ve never had a plan. I’ve never looked for a pitch. Basically, the game is glorified batting practice, and that’s when I’ve always been at my best. I think that I just really tried to be something that I wasn’t at the beginning of the season and fucked myself a little bit, but I’m getting out of it.” –Nick Castellanos
Castellanos might’ve spoken hyperbolically. He might’ve shown frustration with the perception as a poster boy for the NLCS drought or the organization’s added emphasis on chase rate entering 2024.
Regardless of the intention, the 12-year MLB veteran fueled negativity about his effort. The narrative doesn’t align with the truth about his commitment to reversing the early-season slump.
A Remarkable Turnaround
The monthly splits in 2024 show a hot/cold hitter who’s back on track to land closer to his career averages than most people would’ve guessed after the brutal slump to begin the 2024 season.
Castellanos has listened to repeated instruction from Rob Thomson to stay balanced at the plate by keeping his head straight and staying “quiet” with his motion. The adjustments have paid off.
One number has remained fairly consistent throughout his career. Castellanos ranks at the bottom of the majors in 2024 with a 38% chase rate that lands him in the fifth percentile among qualified hitters.
Is the (sometimes over)aggressive approach ideal? No. Is it necessarily a deterrent to success? No.
Castellanos also ranked in the fifth percentile in chase rate in 2021 during his career-best season in Cincinnati. The free-swinging approach has worked before, and it’s not an origin of any slumps since signing with the Phillies.
Why did he respond with the questionably phrased comments in Miami? His simplified (but still existent) approach had worked before, and he knew it could work again.
Thomson has remained confident in his right fielder with positive reinforcement. He even bumped Castellanos higher in the order despite the early slump while some other accomplished Phillies hitters dealt with injuries.
“Because of his history, I believe that he’s going to come out of this thing, and get consistent, and start putting up the numbers that we’re used to seeing.” -Rob Thomson (May 20)
The belief in the back of the baseball card has some merit when managers express their patience for issues to work themselves out.
However, how does anyone improve from failure? Hard work, dedication, and willingness to change an approach.
The Secret To Success?
The Phillies typically take batting practice at Citizens Bank Park roughly three hours before a game. It’s become the norm for Nick Castellanos to hit the diamond early.
He’s taken it upon himself to be the first person at work. He’s worked on adjustments with hitting coach Kevin Long and his assistant Rafael Pena.
He’s even put in some quality time letting his son Liam take a few swings before his teammates come out to the field.
“He’s really worked hard. Every day, he’s out there early hitting (both) with the hitting coaches and all by himself. He does it almost every day… He’s staying quiet. He’s using the field. He’s really had good at-bats, really consistent at-bats for a while now.” -Rob Thomson
Thomson had mentioned regular conversations with Castellanos during the April struggles. The Phillies skipper has since publicly reiterated the importance of balance, the focus on hitting to all fields, and the need to avoid anxiously jumping toward pitches.
The improved approach became easy to identify on Saturday when Castellanos drove an opposite field double in the bottom half of the fourth inning just after the visiting Nationals took a 1-0 lead.
The dedication to adjustments has materialized into success at the plate.
An All-Around Player?
Phillies fans have a right to question a player with a $20 million average annual salary who doesn’t offer the complete superstar package of some MLB players in his pay grade.
Nick Castellanos is still an imperfect hitter who chases pitches outside the zone frequently despite instances of success with the approach. He doesn’t demonstrate the same arm strength with impressive outfield assists as some other power-hitting outfielders. His advanced defensive metrics won’t impress anyone, and he didn’t have the strongest defensive season in 2022.
However, consider his improvement since Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber have left the outfield. Castellanos is able to allow better outfielders like Johan Rojas and Brandon Marsh to cover extra ground in right center field.
This tendency to defer drops his ultimate zone rating (UZR). It’s a major contributor to the poor defensive metrics. He’s still been able to play a smaller zone competently that allows the collective outfield defense to succeed.
The Phillies know he won’t provide plus defense, but they can get by because of his adequate progress and lack of errors since signing the contract in 2022.
Players who aren’t committed to defense don’t run hard into the ivy at Wrigley Field for tough catches. Castellanos, conversely, ignored his knowledge gathered while playing the NL Central of potential pain from the infamous wall with an outstanding impactful catch in early July.
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Castellanos will never burn opponents as a base stealer among the league leaders. He’s still quietly contributed 22 stolen bases in 27 tries for a percentage above the league average the past three seasons with the Phillies.
Instances like the heavy focus on Harper’s lack of hustle running out an impactful grounder in the ninth inning on July 30 against the New York Yankees also distract from certain instances of a teammate’s contributions.
Castellanos legged out a fielder’s choice early in the same inning to avoid a double play that could’ve crushed the Phillies’ chances to tie the game and bring Harper to the plate in the first place.
If you’d like to criticize Castellanos, reasonably point out the shortcomings of his tenure in Philadelphia. Also avoid generalizations about an unbuttoned jersey that cloud the bigger picture of a player who has worked tirelessly to improve his overall game for a World Series contender.
