Philadelphia Phillies Season in Review: Nick Castellanos
Not once in 2022 did a Nick Castellanos home run make it a 4-0 ballgame.
That should give you a pretty good idea of how his season went. Following up the most dominant offensive season of his career, Castellanos laid a dud in 2022 for the Philadelphia Phillies. His fielding declined, his power evaporated, his strikeout-rate ballooned and he ceased to make hard contact.
In every aspect, in every conceivable way, Castellanos got worse in 2022. Perhaps his issues were mental, perhaps they were physical, it's possible he didn't mesh with the city or the coaches, or maybe he was injured.
It's almost unexplainable how a player could regress so dramatically in one season. Age-30 is often cited as a dividing line for athletes.
"One you turn 30 you start to decline."
But it's seems impossible that aging could be sole contributor to Castellanos' failings.
He was clearly frustrated himself, and sometimes lashed out. On Jul. 23 after a particularly dark stretch in which he went just 24 for his last 114 with a .211/.224/.263 slash, Castellanos and NBC Sports Philadelphia reporter Jim Salisbury got into a heated confrontation.
After Salisbury repeatedly asked Castellanos about the boos he received from fans, Castellanos joked about "losing his hearing", before he lashed out.
"Cmon man, it’s a stupid question…Can anybody else answer that for him?” Castellanos said.
Perhaps that conversation lit a spark under Castellanos. From then through Aug. 28, the date of his oblique strain, he slashed .321/.350/.485. Though his BABIP was still an unsightly .373, Castellanos finally started making solid contact.
September and the postseason represented an unfortunate return to form. Mirroring the stretch that lead up to his confrontation with Salisbury, Castellanos slashed .185/.232/.246 in 69 postseason plate appearances.
If that Castellanos is the one the Phillies get in 2023, the team might have a problem. With Harper potentially slated to miss the first few months of the season due to his UCL tear, Philadelphia must rely on Castellanos as a run-producer, and his under-lying stats in 2022 don't suggest he's trending in that direction.
His average exit velocity dropped from 89.8 mph in 2021 to 87.5 mph in 2022. His HardHit% dropped from 46.9% to 35.1%. Even his whiff-rate on fast-balls exploded from 15.5% to 23.1%.
Last time Castellanos struggled over a full season, it was 2020 and his BABIP plunged to a career low .257. In 2022 that figure was .326. Then his peripherals indicated improvement.
When making contact that season, Castellanos posted a career high .500 xwOBA. In the entirety of Major League Baseball, that was only bested by 11 qualified players. In 2022, Castellanos xwOBA on contact was .370, over half the league's qualified batters did better than the guy who "[doesn't] have a college degree, I hit baseballs."
Final Grade: D-
The only things saving Castellanos from an "F" are his solid April and August, as well as his spectacular postseason defense. Twice Castellanos made game-saving catches. The Phillies might not have made it out of the NLDS without him, and they probably wouldn't have made it to World Series Game 6 without him either.
Castellanos turned into one of baseball's best route-runners in the postseason, maybe he has a brighter future with the Eagles than the Phillies.
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