Philadelphia Phillies Slugger Castellanos Is Hitting Like His Old Self Again

Right fielder Nick Castellanos is finally hitting like the middle-of-order bat the Philadelphia Phillies signed him to be.

Author:
Leo Morgenstern
Aug 24, 2022 6:00 PM EDT

In this story:

Philadelphia Phillies

On Tuesday night against the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

With another hit on Wednesday, he will tie Alec Bohm for the longest hitting streak of the Phillies’ season. It marks a big turnaround for the man who had the lowest FanGraphs WAR in baseball at the end of July.

Since the start of August, Castellanos is hitting .316/.357/.516 with four home runs and a 144 wRC+. Only J.T. Realmuto and Darrick Hall have put up better numbers, and neither plays every day. That means Castellanos has been the most productive hitter on the team this month.

When Philadelphia signed the slugging right-hander to a five-year, $100 million contract this past offseason, they were counting on production exactly like this. However, they were probably counting on it coming a little more regularly.

So, after months of mediocrity, Castellanos' recent hot streak raises an important question: can he keep it up?

It's too soon to say for sure, but there are some promising signs.

His .368 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is higher than his .331 career average, but not by much. With his usual BABIP, Castellanos would still have a .291 batting average in August.

That's almost identical to his .292 Statcast expected batting average (xBA) over his past 100 plate appearances. His .346 xwOBA over the past 100 PA is also a promising sign – it is right in line with his .341 career wOBA.

In other words, he is hitting the ball hard and he is hitting it well – he's not just lucking into more bloop singles than usual.

So what is Castellanos doing differently? He is finally hitting well against sliders, and especially those from right-handed pitchers.

The Phillies outfielder has seen more sliders this season than any other pitch. No NL hitter (min. 100 PA) has seen a higher percentage of sliders than he has. And over the last couple months, this was a serious problem.

In June and July, Castellanos saw 201 sliders and managed a hit on just nine of them. Only two went for extra bases. Too often, he found himself swinging and missing at the pitch.

In August however, he already has 12 hits against the slider, including three home runs. All three of those homers come against right-handed pitching, which makes them all the more impressive.

Castellanos is still whiffing and striking out a lot, but when he does hit the ball, he's making good contact. The results have been excellent.

Tuesday night's contest against the Reds was a great example.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Castellanos laced a slider from right-hander Buck Farmer into left field for an RBI single.

Later on in the game, he crushed a slider from right-hander Hunter Strickland to deep left field. It ended up just a few feet short of a home run, and were it not for a good catch by left fielder Stuart Fairchild, it could have gone for extra bases.

Sliders from right-handed pitchers have neutralized Castellanos for the entire 2022 season, but over the past month he has turned things around. By improving against sliders from right-handed pitchers, Castellanos has removed a major weakness from his game.

If he can keep it up, the Phillies will finally have the Nick Castellanos they thought they signed in the offseason. Combine that with Bryce Harper returning from the IL, and this offense could be downright scary in September and beyond.