Castellanos has emerged as more than just powerful bat
PHILADELPHIA — The ball came off Adam Frazier’s bat in a blur Tuesday, and as it passed by his line of vision, Rob Thomson tried to fight off the doubts.
That’s when Nick Castellanos did what has become his thing.
That’s when he sprinted to his left and to the right-field corner, lunged at the ball and snared it in the upper web of his glove.
That’s when the Phillies settled before winning an important game on an Alec Bohm walk-off hit in the ninth.
“I thought he had no chance of getting to that,” confessed Thomson, a day later. “But he did.”
Once, as even Castellanos will admit, that would have been a surprise, a bonus, an outlier. But since the end of last season and 100-plus games into the encore, his emergence as not just an acceptable right fielder but a regular supplier of defensive highlights has helped keep the Phillies tight in the wild card race.
Highly compensated as Castellanos is, that level of defense was never a condition of employment from the Phillies, who were just looking for another right-handed bat in the offseason of 2022. But something clicked late last season and the Phillies went on a lengthy postseason run. Or maybe it was the other way around.
“Since I have become a professional baseball player, defense has always been something that has been difficult for me,” Castellanos was saying in front of his locker before a Wednesday game against Baltimore. “So just to continue to put work in and be recognized for it is satisfying.”
Castellanos will admit to once having had the habit of letting his mind wander on defense. But then the Phillies won a wildcard playoff spot, survived an early postseason round, began to sell out Citizens Bank Park and compete for a world championship. And as they did, there was Castellanos regularly sliding across the foul line to make gymnastic catches, saving runs and surfacing, at age 30, as the kind of defensive force even he might not have expected.
“I think playing defense in the playoffs taught it for me,” he said. “I hadn’t played in an environment that heightened since a state championship game in high school. So when the environments become heightened, the competition becomes that much more personal. And if I take defense more personally, I am going to take defense, I’m going to make sure I focus on making every play.
“Over the course of 162 games, it’s hard to stay focused and present on every single pitch,” he said. “But after having that experience in October, it has kind of set a new standard for myself. So if I can do it then, then if I accept anything less, I am doing an injustice to myself. So that has helped carry over into this year.”
In a season when they have been forced to tinker with their center fielders and settle for whatever Kyle Schwarber could provide in left while waiting for Bryce Harper to learn first base, the Phillies have regularly planted Castellanos in right without concern. Though Thomson wants to give him some DH shifts as a matter of load management, he has not done so since April. As for Castellanos, he will play where he is assigned, even though there were some mixed messages about the Phillies’ original plans when they signed him to a fiveyear, $100 million contract.
“What my agent told me and what the organization had planned were completely different,” he said. “I was told I was going to play right field and Bryce was going to go to left. But once I had a Phillies uniform on, that wasn’t the case. That was just a learning experience.”
Castellanos played mostly as a DH and in left early last season but quickly went to right when Harper’s elbow proved too sore to function in the outfield. Dave Dombrowski insists the plan for Harper is still to be an outfielder. But with his elbow issues and with Castellanos’ defensive development, the options will be plentiful. Until then, Castellanos will remain ready.
“I have my early stuff that I do, working with [defensive coach] Paco [Figureoa] every day, making sure I get my feet under me every day, making sure I get my touches with the baseball,” he said. “That way, when you are expected to make a play, that’s not the first time I am running after something and making a catch that way.”
Thomson, for one, appreciates the effort.
“Look,” the manager said, pointing from his dugout seat to the field, long before the game. “He’s right out there. He’s working with Paco right now. And he’s been doing that ever since he got here. He’s been engaged on defense, and he’s really improved. In that game Tuesday, his catch was incredible. It really was. It was a game-saver.”
For a hitter turned defensive force, it was one of more than a few.