Is Philadelphia Phillies Slugger Quietly Putting Together Best Season of His Career?

The Philadelphia Phillies have received some excellent contributions from unexpected sources early in the 2025 MLB regular season, which has the team out to a 10-7 start.

With several of their key contributors in the lineup, the Phillies have been fortunate to receive excellent production from other players.

One of the sluggers who has stepped up over the first few weeks is right fielder Nick Castellanos.

He is coming off a tough 2024 campaign where his main positive was his durability, as he played in all 162 games. His numbers dropped across the board from a 2023 campaign in which he appeared on some MVP ballots.

Castellanos had a slash line of .254/.311/.431, reflecting a drop in power production. After hitting 29 home runs with 37 doubles and 106 RBI in 2023, he had 23, 30 and 86 in 2024.

That led to a lot of speculation over the winter that Philadelphia was looking to move him in a trade. He was reportedly part of the trade package that was offered to the Houston Astros in exchange for Kyle Tucker and placed on the trade block.

Coming off a down year and with two years and $40 million remaining on his contract, it isn’t much of a surprise that interest in him was nonexistent.

Of course, everything happens for a reason. Had the Phillies found a trade partner for Castellanos, they wouldn’t be benefiting from what has been the best start to a season in his career.

He has gotten off to an incredibly hot start this year with a .306/.358/.532 slash line, three home runs, five doubles and 11 RBI.

With so many of their hitters off to slow starts, Philadelphia has needed every bit of Castellanos’s production in the early going. He is leading the team in doubles and Kyle Schwarber is the only player who has more home runs and RBI than him.

His 151 OPS+ is topped by only Schwarber (193) and Edmundo Sosa (201) thus far.

What has led to such a breakthrough in his age-33 campaign?

As shared by Ben Silver on X, he has revamped his approach at the plate.

I think Castellanos is on a path to the best season of his career.

His chase- and whiff-rates are 30.9% and 28.8% respectively.

He's never had a chase-rate that low for a full season, it's been since 2019 his whiff-rate was that low.

Also, his xBA and xSLG are .291 and .543.
— Ben Silver (@BenHSilver) April 16, 2025

Castellanos has produced chase and whiff rates of 30.9% and 28.8%, respectively. If he maintains the chase rate, it would be the lowest mark in his career. The whiff rate would be the lowest since 2019, when he hit 27 home runs and 58 doubles between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs.

Not chasing what pitchers want you to swing at will result in better numbers. His patience and pitch selection are resulting in productivity, as his average exit velocity is 90.1 mph. If that holds, it would be only the second time in his career he reached the 90 mph threshold.

His expected batting average and slugging percentages aren’t too far off from the numbers he is putting up, which insinuates that his production to this point is legitimate, not because of some fluky performances or luck.

If Castellanos can maintain this level of production, it would be a huge development for the Phillies. With Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh playing well below replacement level thus far, his uptick in production has been huge.

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