Castellanos’ consistency paying dividends for Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — There have been many moments in Nick Castellanos’ major league career that indicated not only a sense of the dramatic at the plate, but a tendency to roll with the waves.

He’s been up and down, streaks of hot hitting and long patches of cold and dry offensive offerings. Through it all, Castellanos at least maintains an outward sense of calm, and an apparent belief in the old adage of whatever comes around will eventually go around.

Provided he keeps his bat at an even keel, that is.

“Nick tonight,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said during his post-game press conference after a Castellanos-gilded 3-2 win in 11 innings over the Atlanta Braves Sunday night, “two two-out, two-strike hits for three RBIs.

“I’m really happy for him, because he’s worked so hard to get his swing back and get going, and he’s done it.”

This Castellanos comeback isn’t out of character. Anyone keeping a close eye on him during his three Phillies seasons have had many moments of wondering what the five-year, $100 million free agency contract given him in 2022 was all about. And then they’ve seen him do things like carry the club for long stretches, or emblazon baseball’s endless record book by drilling two homers in each of games 3 and 4 of last year’s National League Division Series against the Braves, thus becoming the first player in major league history to hit multiple home runs in consecutive playoff games.

For an encore, he homered to start his NLCS against the Arizona Diamondbacks, then promptly went ice cold the rest of the way as he and the Phillies blew a 2-0 series lead and lost in seven games.

Of course, the standard and true answer: “That’s baseball.”

In his three Phillies seasons Castellanos has been asked more than a handful of times why he can light it up for a dozen or so games at a stretch and then suddenly seem to have his offensive pilot light go out for just as long or much longer. His consistent answer: “I wish I knew.”

At least he seems at peace with that realization. And in the wake of his walk-off single in the 11th that won a series with the Braves Sunday night, creating a seven-game gap between the front-running Phillies and the uncomfortable NL East runners-up, Castellanos’ peace was turned up to a fever pitch.

“This was a fun game, and a big series and the crowd was electric and to be able to come through there at the end was awesome,” he gushed. Then, asked why his big hits of late have all seemed to come after falling into an 0-2 hole in the count, he added, “It makes me want take (pitches), so I have two strikes more often.”

Rim shot, please…

He was at 0-2 with two outs to tough Braves starter Spencer Schwellenbach with the Phils trailing 2-0 in the sixth inning Sunday, when Schwellenbach hooked one high up in the zone and Castellanos drilled it into the left-center gap for a two-run double.

He was down 0-2 again in the 11th against Braves reliever Grant Holmes, but fought his way to 1-2 with a couple of foul balls. It was then that Holmes thought it a good idea to sneak a four-seamer past Castellanos.

Not a good idea.

“He’s got this two-strike approach now,” Thomson said in trying to define Castellanos’ slow but steady improvement at the plate. “He spreads out a little bit, so his head doesn’t move. He doesn’t have a whole lot of body movement, and he’s putting good swings on the pitches and not chasing as much.

“And he’s been great.”

The fun and funny times have been ramping up for Castellanos over the past three months, and the Phillies, who looked like world beaters in the season’s first half and struggled mightily for a long stretch coming out of the All-Star break, have been grateful.

Over his last 10 games, Castellanos is hitting .282 with three home runs and nine RBIs. Overall, he’s slashing .249/.303/.421 for a .724 OPS. His batting average seems well below standard at .249 until you remember where he came from – he had a first month-plus of the season to forget, even by streaky standards.

“I don’t feel like I’m searching for a swing,” Castellanos said about long hours working with the team’s hitting coaches to gain consistency. “Since we started doing that in May I’ve just built success slowly off of that.”

On May 3, Castellanos was slashing .180/.242/246 with a .488 OPS. Even as late as June 16, he was hitting .204. But as the power numbers started to rise, so too did his plate consistency. His sense of timing has, too.

Castellanos has had four walk-off winners go off his bat this season.

This latest one came after a failure. Castellanos had gone to the plate with Bryce Harper on first and no outs in the bottom of the ninth, but was struck out on three pitches by crafty Braves closer Raisel Iglesias. On the third pitch Castellanos rated a 10 on the ugly swing meter.

Rather than allow it to get him down, however, it seemed to only deepen his resolve if he were to get another chance. And he would.

“I was more patient,” he said. “With Iglesias, I’m excited there. I want to hit. And he doesn’t give me anything and he takes advantage of my aggressiveness. But the next AB I wasn’t going to make the same mistake.”