The lasting image of Nick Castellanos in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform won’t be his game-saving sliding catches in Game 1 of the 2022 NLDS and World Series, nor will it be him making the final out as the Houston Astros clinched last year’s championship.
It may be impossible for Castellanos to ever have an, uh, more famous home run than the one he hit while playing for the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 19, 2020. But he’s got four new candidates for the No. 2 spot.
2022 — the first year of a five-year/$100 million contract for Castellanos in Philadelphia — was rather disastrous individually. A year after winning a Silver Slugger Award, Castellanos posted just a .694 OPS in his first campaign with the Phillies, finishing the season with an unsightly -0.8 WAR.
A candid Castellanos admitted after a Game 3 victory that after not signing until March 22, he really didn’t have time to properly adjust to his new surroundings in his first season with the Phillies.
“I knew that last year just — last year felt rushed from the moment I signed this contract to when I made the last out of the World Series,” Castellanos said.
“This year has been slower in all regards because it’s my second year, and I think that the more I become familiar, the more free I guess I feel in my environment.”
It’s not that there weren’t trials and tribulations during Castellanos second season, there were. That’s why despite representing the Phillies at the All-Star Game in July, Castellanos has hit seventh this postseason. But he had a much more Castellanos-esque campaign in his second season in 2023, posting 37 doubles, a .788 OPS and driving in 106 runs.
And in the NLDS, Castellanos exorcised whatever demons still existed from the 2022 playoffs, where despite his two tremendous catches, he hit just .185.
For a minute, it felt like Castellanos being robbed of a game-tying hit by Atlanta center to end Game 2 could be the defining moment of his — and the Phillies — 2023 postseason. Instead, the series shifted back to Philadelphia, and after taking a blow to the face, Castellanos delivered a knockout punch to a Braves team that won 104 regular season games.
Castellanos entered Game 3 with zero career postseason home runs. He exited Game 3 with two career postseason home runs, which — in addition to Bryce Harper’s heroics — helped the Phillies to a 10-2 beatdown of the Braves.
Thursday night, Castellanos hit a pair of solo home runs off of Spencer Strider, which totaled 819 feet.
According to The Athletic‘s Jayson Stark, Castellanos is the first player in MLB history to have back-to-back multi-home run games in the postseason. Even more interesting is that he’s never done that during the course of the regular season.
Meanwhile, Castellanos also became the third player in Phillies franchise history to record two multi-home run games in the same postseason, joining Chase Utley and Jayson Werth, both of whom did so in 2009.
They don’t give out NLDS MVPs, but if they did, Castellanos would have been at the front of the line for said honor. The 31-year-old finished the four-game NLDS 7-for-15 (.467) with four home runs. His production allowed the Phillies to overcome suboptimal performances from Kyle Schwarber and Alec Bohm in the series.
And after he was at the forefront of sending home the World Series favorites, there are no more questions about the future of Castellanos. He’s under contract with the Phillies for three more seasons, and whether Rhys Hoskins is back at first base and/or Harper returns to the outfield in 2024, you better make room for Castellanos somewhere. He’s a Phillie.
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