Oct 16, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos (8) takes the field for the ninth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks during game one of the NLCS for the 2023 MLB playoffs at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports Bill Streicher
CLEARWATER, Fla. — It would not be a controversial statement to say that Nick Castellanos is a polarizing person.
His exit from the Phillies — completed when the club released him Thursday — was ugly. All parties involved probably could have handled the last year better. That's not to draw a false equivalency, but the purpose of this story is not to debate who is to blame for how poorly the outfielder's tenure in Philadelphia ended. There's plenty of discussion about that in the latest episode of Phillies Stoplight🚦.
But what will Castellanos' legacy be just based on what he did between the lines?
This was a player who, at his best, could carry a lineup. He hit .301 with an .840 OPS in the first half of the 2023 season, earning him his second career All-Star Game selection. He was excellent at the plate in the second half of the 2024 season, homering 10 times, recording 13 doubles and posting an .839 OPS.
It would be impossible to put together a highlight reel of some of the greatest swings in Phillies postseason history and not include Castellanos, who was particularly dominant in the NLDS round.
He became the first player in MLB postseason history to record back-to-back multi-home run games when he did so in Games 3 and 4 of the 2023 NLDS, helping the Phillies to upset the Atlanta Braves for the second consecutive year:
Citizens Bank Park has arguably never been louder than when he followed up a Bryce Harper home run in Game 2 of the 2024 NLDS by wasting one himself:
Castellanos was by far the most productive hitter for the Phillies in the four-game NLDS they lost to the Mets in 2024, as he recorded seven hits in 17 at-bats, a .412 batting average.
At the same time, Castellanos' full postseason resume with the Phillies is much more of a mixed bag. Castellanos hit just .215 in 144 career postseason at-bats with the Phillies. Though he had some big defensive plays, if Castellanos had hit up to his contract during the 2022 postseason, perhaps the Phillies would have had a parade. Instead, they lost to the Houston Astros in six games in the World Series, with Castellanos — who had just three hits and struck out 10 times in 24 at-bats in the Fall Classic — recording the final out.
Really, the story of Castellanos' time with the Phillies is highs and lows. He was unconscious in the aforementioned 2023 NLDS against the Braves, but then recorded just one hit in the seven-game NLCS the Phillies lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He struck out in 11 of his 24 at-bats in a series that, to this point, probably defines this era of Phillies baseball, and not in a good way.
After he was an All-Star in 2023, he hit .235 with a .723 OPS following the All-Star Break. Before a strong second half in 2024, Castellanos got off to a miserable start, hitting .233 with a .680 OPS. His offensive production in his first and last seasons with the Phillies — 2022 and 2025 — was downright bad, as he posted matching .694 OPS marks to bookend his time in red pinstripes.
Perhaps the Phillies shouldn't have expected Castellanos to match the monster contract year he had as a Cincinnati Red in 2021, when he hit .309 with 34 home runs, 100 RBIs and a .939 OPS. But surely they expected more than the .260 batting average, 20.5 home runs, 81.5 RBIs and .732 OPS Castellanos averaged in four seasons for the Phillies. That overall production is disappointing for a player given a $100 million contract — like, really disappointing.
Then there's Castellanos' defense. To be fair, the Phillies probably envisioned Castellanos getting more games at DH when they signed him, but Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber were almost exclusively DHs at times during the last four years. Castellanos had to play the outfield, and he worked very hard to get better at it. He deserves credit for that, full stop.
Still, this is the majors. You're judged on results. Among all big leaguers, Castellanos is second-last in defensive runs saved (minus-41) and outs above average (minus-35) since the start of the 2022 season, per FanGraphs. Castellanos definitely got worse in 2025, but he was always a liability as a defender. Yes, he didn't make errors. But errors are almost never a metric cited when talking about an outfielder, because they usually don't account for balls that you don't get to or fail to make contact with. When we talk about Willie Mays or Andruw Jones being incredible outfielders, no one talks about how few errors they made. Errors are a metric that are much more valuable when gauging how good infielders are.
Ultimately, while there were some great moments, the Phillies have needed a right-handed middle-of-the-order hitter for much of Castellanos' tenure. He was supposed to be that guy. Far too often, he was more like a No. 7 hitter. And as the Phillies set $20 million on fire to have Castellanos not play for them in 2026, they continue to lack a cleanup hitter. It's hard to divorce that from Castellanos not living up to his deal.
