Apr 8, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos (8) hits a double against the Atlanta Braves in the fifth inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
A year ago, Nick Castellanos got off to the worst start of his career.
At the end of April, Castellanos wasn't even hitting his weight. It was getting harder to understand why Phillies manager Rob Thomson wasn't taking the guy out of the lineup as he was a detriment to it on most nights.
But to his credit, Castellanos worked hard, and after a better May, figured it out enough to become one of the Phillies most consistent hitters from June 1 onward.
Over the final four months of the season, Castellanos improved his slash line to a solid .279/.333/.483 for an .817 OPS with 16 homers, 25 doubles and 62 RBI in 104 games.
He still struck out a lot (85 times) and only walked 24 times in that span, and for the entire season, he still chased pitches out of the zone. Everyone and their mother knew the way to beat Castellanos was breaking balls down and away.
Maybe not anymore.
It's only been 10 games, so you can't really completely on all the numbers you see at this time, but there are some that are indicators of things being different.
Castellanos had three hits and two RBI in the Phillies 7-5 loss in Atlanta on Tuesday. His average is up to .314. His OPS is up to .956. There's sure to be some regression in those stats, but if there's not in the following ones, maybe the regression won't be all that bad.
This lead is brought to you by Nick Castellanos pic.twitter.com/CrVZgQ1Kjo
Consider, Castellanos right now has a chase rate (swinging at pitches outside the strike zone) of 28.8%. It's only 10 games, but that's a career low for him.
In 2024 his chase rate was 37.8%. In 2023 it was 41%.
By comparison, the average across all of baseball this season is 28.5%, so he's right there.
His chase contact percentage is 52.6%, meaning that the pitches he's swinging at out of the zone and connecting on are reachable. This is also an improvement from last year (48.1%) and 2023 (44.6%).
And because he's making more contact, his whiff percentage (pitches swung at and missed) is at a career low (22.7%) and is better than league average (25.0%).
All of these positive numbers have also led to a career-low strikeout rate (10.3%) and a career high walk rate (10.3%).
So, he's laying off bad pitches, and when he gets pitches to hit, he's making contact.
His low strikeout rate currently ranks him in the top seven percent of all hitters in the sport.
Nick Castellanos crushes a go-ahead grand slam! 🔔 pic.twitter.com/OHnFwRYol2
When Thomson and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski talked at the end of last season about certain players being willing to change their approach at the plate, it was mostly perceived to be a discussion about Trea Turner, who scuffled in the playoff series against the New York Mets, and bluntly stated that the Phillies got themselves out too much against their division rivals.
Castellanos was the Phillies best hitter in that short series. And, he was Mr. Consistent for a large chunk of the season. So, why would anyone think he would be a guy who would take a different approach?
Except he has, and it's paying off.
Now, 39 plate appearances across 10 games in March and April are not necessarily going to tell the story of an entire season for a player. It's possible that Castellanos reverts back to the player Philadelphia has grown accustomed to seeing in his first three years with the club - a streaky hitter who delights for a few weeks and disappears into a black hole for another few.
But the metrics are telling a story. It's only about a chapter in, so there's still a lot of exposition needed before we even get to the rising action, let alone the climax, but like any good book, there's been enough at the start to get the reader hooked to see how the plot plays out.
