The awkward attempt Nick Castellanos gave on a sixth inning Jake Fraley double Wednesday night might have seemed like the byproduct of a few different factors working against the Phillies right fielder. All season – all six games, that is — Castellanos’ glove has not passed the eye test. Perhaps his defense, which took massive strides in 2023 after a dreadful 2022, is regressing to the mean. It’s possible he’s carrying the struggles of a .150/.292/.150 slash line with him to the outfield. Maybe Father Time is simply starting to catch up to the 32-year-old. More milk than wine, so to speak.
Apparently, according to manager Rob Thomson, the main culprit is something else entirely.
“Casty was telling me the other day that the new scoreboard is kinda — he’s gotta get used to it,” Thomson said.
“Because he feels like he’s right on top of the scoreboard, and he’s not. He’s got a lot more room. So might take a little time to figure that out.”
The Phillies did not change their outfield dimensions over the offseason. They massively overhauled the out-of-town scoreboard, reducing the “out-of-town” part and replacing it with advanced stats, advertisements and more room for video displays. But it’s still in the same place as it was last year and the year before, which saw Castellanos play a combined 163 games in Citizens Bank Park’s right field.
That doesn’t mean it doesn’t look entirely different. The scoreboard is much more in-your-face than the unassuming, retro look of the previous two decades. Chasing a ball headed for a part of the scoreboard right in between a giant photo of Zack Wheeler and the number of vertical inches on his last pitch, all strewn in between a visually cacophonous display of red, purple, and blue lighting, might affect a fielder’s ability to orient himself within the area he’s supposed to patrol. No doubt.
But there are certain things a manager of a 5-1 team can get away with revealing about a player OPSing .900 with passable defense, which don’t go over as well when the team is 2-4 and the player is doing neither of those things. Chalk the scoreboard explanation up as belonging to bucket No. 2.
It would certainly benefit the Phillies’ defense if Castellanos can get used to the scoreboard in short order. But his defense is secondary, especially as long as Johan Rojas is stationed to his right. Castellanos needs to hit. He’s struck out in 7 of 20 at bats this season, and his 41% chase rate — something the Phillies focused on reducing, for all of their regulars, all offseason — is in the second percentile in all of MLB. The size of the sample would be a lot more reassuring if it didn’t follow a .119/.140/.262 Spring Training, but alas.
Unless those numbers turn around soon, it’ll be hard to look at Castellanos’ stats — standard or advanced — displayed upon the new scoreboard plastering Citizens Bank Park’s right field wall. Come to think of it, though, the harder those numbers to look at, the easier it should be to track a fly ball.
Must-read Phillies content
- Here’s the recap of Wednesday’s game, which included the double in question, by Bailey Digh.
- Tim Kelly has the latest on Taijuan Walker and Orion Kerkering’s injury rehab.
- Ty Daubert wrote an excellent feature on Carlos De La Cruz, who’s looking to beat the odds with size and power “you dream about.”
- Destiny Lugardo wrote about Bryce Harper’s historic three-homer game and how he hopes it’s the start of a Phillies run.
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