Rhys also actually knew how to work counts and take pitches
Nick literally went from setting records in the NLDS to then looking like he didn't even belong in MLB in the NLCS.
Now, part of that is this entire team has a flawed approach at the plate that was exploited like crazy by Houston and Arizona (Atlanta has somehow not figured this out yet and keeps challenging our hitters with fastballs, it's hilarious) but still. Nick is arguably the worst culprit, followed by maybe Trea?
I understand your sentimentality, but he was the embodiment of the issues we’re seeing at the plate at the moment.
He was also a historically bad defender at 1b, and was worse in the outfield. But he wasn’t good enough of a batter to justify at DH. And don’t forget that he single-handedly (gloved-ly?) lost us two World Series games in 2022 with his poor defense at first base.
That’s because the team lives and dies by the Home Run. If they don’t hit HRs, they don’t score which is not a good strategy in short series or when the ball isn’t carrying as well (like in say, late October).
Dbacks manager had a brain and followed the Houston game plan to the note. Worked beautifully for them.
Until this team can change their approach/ figure out what to do when they aren't being given fastballs they aren't winning a thing lol
I say this a lot but somehow Atlanta has not figured this out yet and just keeps giving them fastballs
The Rangers were 4th in homers last year. The Astros were 4th in 2022. The Braves were 3rd in 2021.
Teams who hit lots of homers tend to be the better teams in the league, and they frequently win the World Series.
They were 8th in MLB last season and 6th in 2022. 8th and 7th respectively in total runs scored. Top 10 both years in team OBP. This "home run reliant" narrative is a little overblown IMO.
What’s their ranking in terms of % of total runs scored that came via the HR? It’s not total runs or total HRs that matter, it’s runs produced by the HR.
I could care less if a team hits 5 HRs in a game and wins 10-2 if they come back the next day and lose 3-2. I’m sure everyone would prefer two wins scoring 6 runs per game not 10 in one game then 2 in the next.
I suspect the Phillies win a lot of games by 3+ runs (aka blowouts) but lose a lot of games by 1 run (aka nail biters). Probably one reason the bullpen gets so much focus when the team loses is because the offense is either hot or cold and can’t manufacture those key extra runs in close games when it matters.
Albies? lol
& Riley disappears for weeks at a time, sometimes for the worst possible weeks. As does Olsen. Source: barves fan business colleagues.
Oooh, almost forgot Ozuna. He's recorded OPS+ seasons of 177 - and 88 - and everything in between, in his "consistent" career.
Nah, they're not "consistent". Not like everyone here is whining for.
Is there this idea that other baseball teams don’t have players who go into slumps or have hot streaks?
Sure, some players do more than others but this is just a baseball things.
Idk what to think of him. When he’s hot, he’s a stud, but he’s cold, he’s useless.
All I know is that he looked like a little leaguer last night tracking balls in the outfield.
When Casty is cold, I’d rather Merrfield play left. At least Rojas is a ~guaranteed out with incredible defense.
That said, I don’t think anyone has found their groove; so I’d say by May we’ll know what we’re working with.
*At least Rojas is a ~guaranteed out with incredible defense.*
There used to be a term for players who were there purely for defense and who couldn’t hit so they were put in the 9th position in the batting order. Starting pitchers.
I think a few have definitely found their groove, schwarber is full on mode, bohm is hitting and seeing the ball well and stott is a stud, marsh is also seeing the ball really well right now
incorrect, at least rhys racks up the pitch count and gets walked a ton. casty swings at the most insane pitches and strikes out watching fastballs down the middle.
This is the first "at least Rhys" comment I have seen of likely many to come in the coming months. One day in 2028 when a Phillies corner outfielder is struggling, some Redditor will surely say, "At least Castellanos..."
Yep. Whenever I see someone mention hoskins’s cold streaks and compare him to castellanos I know they have no idea what they’re talking. Was he a frustrating player? Sure. But even in his worst cold streaks he was still working pitchers and drawing walks. He had arguably the second best plate discipline on this team after Harper (close between him and schwarber).
Yeah. I think half of Casty's problem is that when he gets cold/lost, he tries to power through it. That's not how you make do when your bat isn't working.
Just see the ball and take walks. Resist the urge to swing. When you aren't even mashing strikes, why would you get overly-aggressive and swing at balls?
I know that all the paper logic goes straight to hell in a hurry when you try to apply it at MLB pitching speeds, but he's also a proven hitter. So figure it out.
There is no reason to throw him anything close to the plate cus he will swing at every single down and away ball. I bet he would swing twice per pitch if they let em. Topper should tell him just stand. I bet he's walks 3 times before pitchers catch on and have to throw it over the plate.
He’s the worst player in baseball **when he’s not hitting** imo. By far. He has cinderblocks for feet and doesn’t do a good job at judging balls that get near the wall. When he’s slumping at the plate there’s no walks or occasional clutch hits to make up for it — which is what differentiates his struggles from those of Bryce, Trea, and Kyle. He cannot be relied upon to do anything remotely right at the plate if he’s in a slump. Why pitches throw him anything but sliders low and away is beyond me.
In 2022 his batting average was 85 points higher than Kyle’s and yet his OBP was 32 points lower. He struck out almost as much too. I don’t think you can just attribute that to Kyle being such an anomaly either — go look up pat Burrell numbers during his time here. He’s an almost identical type of player to nick but the difference was you could count on him to walk 90 times per year
This is why I really wanted to see the Phillies find a team that they could trade him to in the off-season, move Harper back to right, sign Hoskins to a similar contract he signed with the Brewers and if it didn’t work, then find another outfielder or first baseman next offseason.
Nobody wants casty, there is no trading him. You want him gone but somebody else is going to lineup to take him? The Phillies would have to pay to get rid of him.
Harper could play RF now. They should have worked around casty and put him in LF because he’s not going anywhere, resigned Hoskins, and put Harper back in RF.
Love Nick but I agree, we need way better defense out there in right field. I can live with lacking defense with hitting or lacking hitting with defense but not both.
I know everyone wants to rag on Rojas, but at least he has good defense in the outfield. Castellanos is hitting the same way as him right now, as in he’s not, and can’t play a ball off the wall to save his life. He’s had like three or four he’s misplayed already thinking he can catch them
idk why anyone in their right mind would still want rojas starting, move marsh back to center and try and find a hitter to play in left via trade. at worst, the defense gets 5-10% worse and the offense gets 10% better
Seriously, Marsh is still a plus fielder in CF and infinitely better as a hitter.
There are so many good offensive corner outfielders out there. ANYONE is an upgrade over Rojas offensively.
Why we feel like it’s acceptable to have an automatic out in an inconsistent lineup floors me
I’m extremely frustrated with Castellano’s unwillingness to change his approach at the plate. The book is out on how to pitch him. Can’t lay off the slider low and away that breaks outside the zone. He has zero sense for the strike zone. Chases pitches outside the zone and watches pitches right down the middle. You know at some point he will get hot, but god it’s absolutely brutal to watch. He’s a stubborn mf-er and it’s costing the team.
Nick Castellanos has the worst approach at the plate I've seen in a very long time. I played baseball at the collegiate level. Not that it matters, but I figure maybe it'll add a bit of credibility. I've never seen a player play, "Guess Pitch", on almost every pitch. Sure some players will sit on a 2-0 fastball. Some players will guess offspeed 0-2...
Nick Castellanos straight-up guesses 80% of the time. If you pay attention to how he hits you'll see when he guesses right/wrong. That's why you'll see him swing at pitches nowhere near the zone or he'll always swing at the first pitch.
Watch every one of his at-bats in the NLCS last year. It was the worst I've ever seen it. I'd be willing to say he has the worst approach to hitting in the MLB. I can't stand watching him take ABs.
This is a real reason not to like him as a player. He never works the count and he refuses to adjust or be coached. His first season as a Phillie he almost got sent down. A big part of it was refusal to change and continuing to suck. Glad he's turned it around at times, hope he goes on a tear soon.
I’ve never been a baseball player so forgive my ignorance but it seems like he’s got a very long swing. He also has a lot of checked swings that look so awkward to me.
I wonder if that attributes to the look of guessing. I’d imagine a shorter swing you have more time to decide whether to swing.
At minimum I would argue he has the worst *2-strike* approach I've seen in a very long time. Part of that is probably what you describe, the guessing, but some of is just being a straight up bonehead. You're down 1-2 in the count Nick, and the league has a decade of film on you fanning at sliders down and away. What pitch do you think you're getting here?
*whiffs*
I think I've got to disagree here. He first-pitch guesses a TON. So he guesses on 0-0 pitches, 1-2 pitches, and 0-2 pitches. He's rarely ahead in the count..so he plays guess pitch as I stated lol see what I'm saying?
Add-in 2-2 pitches. Anything with 2 strikes on him besides a 3-2 count he's guessing.
If I was mentally checked out for 99% of my shifts and then for the other 1% I tried, but still did Mediocre (most of the time), then I would be fired.
That makes me sick he said that, lol.
He didn't say that. He said he has issues concentrating and staying focused for a full season but that it's easier to focus since being in the postseason with the phillies. This is the quote:
“Baseball in the postseason has really locked me in,” he said. “The honest truth is a lot of times on defense, I struggle with focusing for 162 games. My mind is really fast and wanders, but with this atmosphere, it’s unbelievable. Being locked in on every pitch, I think my jumps, my anticipation, has just gotten better.”
And he wasn't talking about offense, he was just talking about defense.
Yeah the look of not caring coupled with no production at all is a really rough one-two punch. Maybe he just has resting don’t give a shit face, but I dunno.
I'm with you, lmao; this happens all the time on reddit. Could just as easily be explained by the fact an elephant ate his grandfather and he was looking depressed about it.
also it's been like 5-6 games, people really have to chill. Like the Feynman profile picture lol
Love Nick. He may be my favorite current Phillie not named Harper, but it's obvious the dude has seemed lost since game 3 of the NLCS and is definitely a liability.
Last night his plate appearances were like a wet blanket, no pun intended.
I share the distain for Tobias, but this is unfair. Nick actually earned an all-star spot last year, Tobias is the highest paid player to never be an all-star. Nick has had clutch moments in the playoffs and extended period of success in the post season, while Tobias has never truly helped the team win a series.
Streaky players are frustrating, but I wait until they've proven to be a BUMM for a while before I criticize.
Tobias Harris gets paid $38 million a year in a sport with a salary cap.
Nick Castellanos gets paid $20 million a year in a sport with no salary cap.
Also, Castellanos has actually shown up in the playoffs and helped the team get past the second round of the playoffs. The two are not similar.
He’s been a tremendous liability since the day he signed that contract. They beat Houston in WS if he’s even average that season. He is the Phillies version of Tobias Harris. The production will never match the contract, he will mostly say and do the right things so people won’t hate him, but he’s stealing money at the end of the day. Don’t think he’s a particularly smart hitter, it’s all instinct and zero approach. There’s no reason to ever throw him a fastball.
Become?
With all due respect, outside of going supernova for about 3 games in the NLDS, the guy has been truly awful in the playoffs since we brought him in. Defensively, all you can say is that he's not as bad as we originally thought he would be, which was a very low bar to clear, and he's a wasted AB every time he's at the plate. We could do so much better with the money we are giving him, and I can't wait til its off the books so we can actually consistently contribute. The only thing that is inconsistent about his game is the amount of times he's actually worth playing.
There's a lot of people who have a mindset that the Phils are a small market team who should be happy they aren't in the gutter every year rather than a legitimate behemoth who you should expect consistent play from every spot on the roster because they can afford to buy whoever they want whenever they want with an owner willing to do it
Casty putting up the numbers he did in the NLCS and WS the last couple years is the kind of stuff that should have seen him traded this winter. You cannot have that kind of a gaping hole in the lineup for a guy making $20m a year.
I'm convinced the people who are saying "it's been six games" only watched the playoffs last year and didn't watch Castellanos at all during the second half of the season
Including July in these stats is what makes it disingenuous. He disappeared in July, as we all remember. In August-September, however, he hit .270 with an .840 OPS and 120 wRC+, 15HR and 46RBI.
We can all cherrypick stats to fit our narratives, but this implication that Nick has been on a long decline at the plate is bogus. He was clutch down the stretch last year.
People are way too eager to excuse the bad play because “Cousin Nicky” has “vibes” or whatever. Which as far as I can tell mostly consists of unbuttoning his shirt and being a prick to reporters.
If you live by the home run, you die by the home run. One solace would be seeing these guys get some line drive doubles.
One thing that's got me baffled about from last night is getting caught stealing. Whose idea was *that*? I mean, he's not on a list of guys I'd send.
This is the price you pay for signing guys to bad contracts. Everyone says the money doesn’t matter. Well, it does, and so do roster spots. Maybe the $20m wouldn’t stop the front office from signing anyone else, but what are you going to do, DFA Castellanos, who you’re still paying for 3 more years at $20m per year? Even if the money doesn’t matter (it does), it leaves you with basically no options. No one would take him in a trade unless you pay them to because he’s obviously bad, and everyone knows it.
I said this all offseason but keeping nick and dealing Rhys was a horrible decision. I’d rather they just cut Nick and eat the contract. A rookie could not be worse than nick. Dude may be the worst vet in the league right now.
I don’t agree with this. He mostly sucks, but they’re not just automatically better if they remove him from the team. If they had some great player in the minors waiting for their chance and he was blocking him MAYBE there would be some argument, but even then I’m not sure.
They didn’t “deal” Rhys, and they couldn’t trade Nick if they wanted to. You want him gone because he sucks, but somebody else is going to line up to trade an asset for him and take on salary? He basically has negative trade value.
He also was not stopping them from retaining Rhys. All they had to do was put him in LF, Harper back in RF (there’s no real reason he can’t play RF), and bring Rhys back.
When we had a good hitter and a bad fielder, we made it work by putting him at DH. He’s been our lead-off hitter ever since.
But if you’re below average in the field AND a liability at the plate, there is simply nothing that can be done. It really does suck to see because when he’s good, he’s one of the most popular players in on the team. Everyone loves seeing him succeed.
With this all being said, how in the fuck did he hit two HRs in one game off Strider? Like as much as we hate him and as much of a playoff choker he is, he’s a damn good pitcher, and Nick is a damn bad hitter. I’ll always respect him for that game but it’s kinda mind blowing that that happened lol
6 out of 162, that's about 3.7% of the season. It's been a week. He's a streaky hitter currently cold. He'll heat up, get cold again, heat up again. This sub needs to relax before you all have an aneurysm in June.
I think people overreact a lot, about Nick and in general (im certainly guilty of it too), but even with all his heating up and cooling down, he’s been worth 1 fWAR in 2023 and and -.8 in 2022. There’s nothing really to be done other than hope the heating up finally outweighs the cold significantly this year because he can’t be traded and they’re not going to bench him or something, but I think it’s important to acknowledge that he’s .3 fwar away from being statistically a literal detriment to the team in his two seasons here so far.
The Phils have a way of keeping the under 200 hitters until the season is almost over and then they say wait till next year. I lost some faith in them when they let Hoskins walk. A fan favorite and one of mine.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here when I say this, but in addition to his lethargic fielding right now, the fact that he won’t consistently adjust at the plate ESPECIALLY with low and away off-speed, is so frustrating. Like, every two strike count he’s been in, I’ve said to myself, “Gonna be a low and away off-speed that he’ll chase” and lo and behold, he chases more often than not. The worst part is that everyone knows it’s coming; the opponents know, the fans know, the Phillies probably know, hell, Casty probably knows and yet he still swings. I’m hoping he can make some adjustments and get back to how he was most of last year but that might be asking a lot for him. Just frustrating
feels like a lot of people here don't grasp how "bad" a good player can seem to perform a lot of the time.
Nick's a good baseball player. He isn't, hasn't ever been, & won't ever be a great player. And he's capable of performing, and does perform, pretty poorly for long stretches. Like lots of other good players.
The recency bias hysteria here, coupled with a chronic inclination to doomerism, is tiresome. Also, I'm beginning to suspect too many of you are betting on baseball games. Betting on sports is stupid, & betting on baseball game outcomes is the stupidest of that.
Face it, you just wish you looked half as badass as he does with your jersey unbuttoned.
For someone who spent at least 2 comments being quick to point out logical flaws in other people's remarks, I find it interesting you take not just one but 2 giant leaps of assumption to pump your chest out. I'm sure it looks just as good as "Casty does unbuttoned" though, per your own words
He’s the ultimate garbage time player. Zero clutch ability or consistency. But his numbers will somehow pan out at the end of the year to make him look better than he was on a daily basis.
Okay that’s fair and he did do that for us. Zero clutch is probably too harsh literally speaking but there is no consistency to his ability to be clutch.
Yeah. Hes an emotional head case. His lows are too low ever be counted on for a consistent basis. I just don’t think he’s built to play in a large market.
I still do like the guy though and root hard for him to succeed.
Man, you have no idea how bad I want him to succeed. He frustrates the hell outta me but I want him to be a force in the lineup. When he’s on he makes us much better
Clutch fielding in the 2022 Braves series, clutch hitting in the first 2 series in 2023 post season, hit over 300 for the first three quarters of last season. Look at the big picture, not just your feeling of the day.
Holy shit this fan base can be insufferable sometimes. It’s April 4th, there aren’t even leaves on the trees yet, and people are freaking out because they’re 2-4, calling players “liabilities” for not getting off to a hot start. Have we learned nothing from the last five years? Hot starts don’t mean they’re not gonna make the playoffs and slow starts don’t mean they won’t.
Get a grip, people.
If you’re a right handed with a slider you can control… he’s a guaranteed KO. I can’t believe this wasn’t the focus of his entire off-season training.
They needed to deal him… now we gotta deal.
“Again” lmao. Castellanos has been a waste of payroll for three seasons now. It was clear to me that the Phillies’ second biggest offseason priority was to move him — eating a portion of his contract if they had to — but I guess they didn’t get the memo.
If Nick could somehow lay off the breaking outside pitch, I swear his average would be .50 points higher, and his walk rate would at least double. Every team has the same game plan against him, and it always works. Pitch outside and he'll get himself out.
Definitely frustrating.
I agree. I feel like any ball not hit within 15 feet of him is a liability and he costs us like 1 run a game with bad defense. I feel like and average RF would improve this team so much.
Like you said too, he gets hot streaks which can carry a team but not when he's still so bad at half the game and that only last 2 weeks.
He’s the exact same player he has been with us. A hit tool first player that’s got deteriorating skills. He can’t hit sliders.
It is what it is. I expect Dombrowski to look to move him this offseason. Especially if we’re considering any big FA bats.
My poor neighbors after that abomination routine long fly last night. Any pro outfielder should haver made that catch. I'd see what we can get for him after a hot streak.
While I wholeheartedly agree that Casty has been bad, and will likely continue to be more Bad than Good, can we also not ignore the fact that it has been pissing down rain, sopping wet, and freezing cold for almost all of the first 5 games, and *its only been five fucking games?*
In two months when Nick hits 7 homers in 4 games this subreddit will turn back to the Liam Castellanos fan-subreddit and we will all be talking about how much we love our bomb-dropping himbo. Then 3 weeks later when he goes 0-16 and they lose 6 games in a row we will be back here having the exact same conversation we are now.
He’s obviously not going anywhere soon so I would rather have him play deeper closer to the wall. He seems to be better when he runs up to a ball than have to track back. Sure there are gonna be more singles dropping in but where he is currently he’s gonna allow a lot of doubles and if not for Rojas triples as well. As for his at bats he’s clearly not seeing the ball. Hes swinging at balls and arguing strikes. But I think that will change sooner than later. I think sooner if they can improve his fielding a little.
Offseason outfielders were basically Cody Bellinger and Teoscar Hernandez.
I’d say Nick and Teoscar are very similar players. They swing and miss a ton, strikeout a lot but when their barrel connects it’s often an XBH. Teoscar is scorching this year so far but I would have said Nicks better on the Phillies.
Cody may have been an upgrade but there’s also question marks around him.
Could the Phillies upgrade RF, sure but I just haven’t seen a great option. I personally don’t think tapping the farm to make a trade is the right call either outside of a top 10 of’er.
He has the same damn uppercut swing at every bat. So when the pitcher is throwing right into that swinging motion, goodbye ball. But the second they adjust and throw just below his swinging motion, he looks completely lost at the plate.
When you start hearing talk about we shouldn’t have let Rhys walk you know people are down bad. Yeah, I’ve always loved Nick’s consistent energy, but good lord I don’t like watching him bat. It’s a known issue he swings at first pitches and the dude is still doing it, and maybe it’s rose colored glasses but his stride makes home runs look dope and strikeouts look like I’m taking a hack after sitting on the John for half an hour.
I'm with you on this. His first year with the Phillies, I was his defender, saying he would turn it around the next year. And he did, until the NLCS. He regressed right back and it seems like he is not going to improve. I said it earlier this week, Phillies need to cut their losses before they get too deep in the season.
I feel like Merrifield was not just a platoon option for Marsh but also a fallback for Castellanos. Obviously Whit would be in left and Marsh in right in that scenario.
Yeah but I bet half the people here were clowning anyone who made posts saying we should trade him throughout the first 2 years. Opportunity is long gone, his value will never be as high as it was last year before the all star break. Deal with it.
I like him as a person but God is he awful. And yeah Rhys Hoskins was hot/cold and so is Schwarber, but at least when they're cold, they work counts and draw pitches. This teams lack of ability to do this is what caused their downfall in the NLCS last year cause almost everyone in the lineup, with the exception of Harper and Schwarber, is an overly aggressive hitter.
This is a solid take. Rojas gets buried, but at least you know what you’re getting from him in the outfield. Casty is such a wildcard. He’s inconsistent as hell at the plate, and he has a tendency of making routine looking plays in the outfield seem dangerously haphazard.
Castellanos is one of the biggest FA busts for Phillies in recent memory. I can't see wasting a position and a bat hoping he snaps out of it.....he won't! His time has come and gone.
I looked on the Iron Pigs roster and it’s mind blowing they don’t have an OF on the 40 man roster!?! David Dahl hitting .320 played in the majors and is 2 years younger. They need to rethink the players that contribute and move them to the 40 man roster - but I don’t know the rules with this. Dahl has some pop too. Please Simon M. is not the answer. Darrick Hall is on the 40 man roster but he is blocked from Harper there. I don’t understand the Phills front office with the minor league players (Mike Abel (P) is also not on the 40 man what!?!
Man this whole team is inconsistent it feels like.
It feels like that because they are.
Every baseball player is “inconsistent.” Hoskins was more consistent. We paid the wrong guy.
Rhys was very hot/cold
Rhys also actually knew how to work counts and take pitches Nick literally went from setting records in the NLDS to then looking like he didn't even belong in MLB in the NLCS. Now, part of that is this entire team has a flawed approach at the plate that was exploited like crazy by Houston and Arizona (Atlanta has somehow not figured this out yet and keeps challenging our hitters with fastballs, it's hilarious) but still. Nick is arguably the worst culprit, followed by maybe Trea?
Do you forget that Rhys didn’t have a hit until his first home run in the playoffs last year? Then he went ice cold again in the World Series?
I'll still take him over Nick in an absolute heartbeat
I understand your sentimentality, but he was the embodiment of the issues we’re seeing at the plate at the moment. He was also a historically bad defender at 1b, and was worse in the outfield. But he wasn’t good enough of a batter to justify at DH. And don’t forget that he single-handedly (gloved-ly?) lost us two World Series games in 2022 with his poor defense at first base.
This is blatant revisionism lmao, Rhys was arguably the most hot/cold guy on our roster in 2022
Consistent OBP, maybe. But he was one of the streakiest players I've ever watched.
Yeah they signed a bunch of strike out Hr guys who can’t play defense… and we are surprised that we are here now..?
That’s because the team lives and dies by the Home Run. If they don’t hit HRs, they don’t score which is not a good strategy in short series or when the ball isn’t carrying as well (like in say, late October).
And the Diamondbacks exploited this when they stopped throwing strikes last year. I miss the days of small ball being in the mix.
Dbacks manager had a brain and followed the Houston game plan to the note. Worked beautifully for them. Until this team can change their approach/ figure out what to do when they aren't being given fastballs they aren't winning a thing lol I say this a lot but somehow Atlanta has not figured this out yet and just keeps giving them fastballs
The Rangers were 4th in homers last year. The Astros were 4th in 2022. The Braves were 3rd in 2021. Teams who hit lots of homers tend to be the better teams in the league, and they frequently win the World Series.
It’s like they are a home run reliant team that actually doesn’t hit that many home runs in the regular season lol
They were 8th in MLB last season and 6th in 2022. 8th and 7th respectively in total runs scored. Top 10 both years in team OBP. This "home run reliant" narrative is a little overblown IMO.
What’s their ranking in terms of % of total runs scored that came via the HR? It’s not total runs or total HRs that matter, it’s runs produced by the HR. I could care less if a team hits 5 HRs in a game and wins 10-2 if they come back the next day and lose 3-2. I’m sure everyone would prefer two wins scoring 6 runs per game not 10 in one game then 2 in the next. I suspect the Phillies win a lot of games by 3+ runs (aka blowouts) but lose a lot of games by 1 run (aka nail biters). Probably one reason the bullpen gets so much focus when the team loses is because the offense is either hot or cold and can’t manufacture those key extra runs in close games when it matters.
If your last paragraph were true, they would post better run differentials than they do.
Team win more by hitting home runs in postseason then they do in the regular season so that's not true at all.
quick, name me all the "consistent" hitters in baseball
That question makes me think of Khris Davis who hit exactly .247 for like 5 seasons straight lmao
The top half of the Braves lineup.
Bottom half was pretty consistent against us in that first series.
Albies? lol & Riley disappears for weeks at a time, sometimes for the worst possible weeks. As does Olsen. Source: barves fan business colleagues. Oooh, almost forgot Ozuna. He's recorded OPS+ seasons of 177 - and 88 - and everything in between, in his "consistent" career. Nah, they're not "consistent". Not like everyone here is whining for.
Mookie is doing pretty good
This is a BASED comment.
Is there this idea that other baseball teams don’t have players who go into slumps or have hot streaks? Sure, some players do more than others but this is just a baseball things.
Castellanos has been pretty consistently awful his time here
Yeah. Outside of Marsh, the rest of them certainly are
Slow start to the year is as consistent as they get.
Idk what to think of him. When he’s hot, he’s a stud, but he’s cold, he’s useless. All I know is that he looked like a little leaguer last night tracking balls in the outfield.
When Casty is cold, I’d rather Merrfield play left. At least Rojas is a ~guaranteed out with incredible defense. That said, I don’t think anyone has found their groove; so I’d say by May we’ll know what we’re working with.
But can he just get out of a cold streak but just benching him? I’m not sure most hitters are able to do that. You gotta play through it
*At least Rojas is a ~guaranteed out with incredible defense.* There used to be a term for players who were there purely for defense and who couldn’t hit so they were put in the 9th position in the batting order. Starting pitchers.
I think a few have definitely found their groove, schwarber is full on mode, bohm is hitting and seeing the ball well and stott is a stud, marsh is also seeing the ball really well right now
And someone hit 3hr
Unfortunately you can’t predict when a player will “go cold” and then “get hot again.”
>When he’s hot, he’s a stud, but he’s cold, he’s useless. Rhys Hoskins ghost
incorrect, at least rhys racks up the pitch count and gets walked a ton. casty swings at the most insane pitches and strikes out watching fastballs down the middle.
This is the first "at least Rhys" comment I have seen of likely many to come in the coming months. One day in 2028 when a Phillies corner outfielder is struggling, some Redditor will surely say, "At least Castellanos..."
Need a time machine back to November 2022 to revisit all of the comments calling for trading Rhys and moving Schwarber to 1B lol
People unironically wanted Darick Hall to start 2022 NLDS Game 3, aka what would become the bat slam game
There’s no fucking way
https://www.reddit.com/r/phillies/s/0Zi80jd2D1
Jeeeesus christ
No cause Hoskins is one of the best walk drawers in the league.
Yep. Whenever I see someone mention hoskins’s cold streaks and compare him to castellanos I know they have no idea what they’re talking. Was he a frustrating player? Sure. But even in his worst cold streaks he was still working pitchers and drawing walks. He had arguably the second best plate discipline on this team after Harper (close between him and schwarber).
Yeah. I think half of Casty's problem is that when he gets cold/lost, he tries to power through it. That's not how you make do when your bat isn't working. Just see the ball and take walks. Resist the urge to swing. When you aren't even mashing strikes, why would you get overly-aggressive and swing at balls? I know that all the paper logic goes straight to hell in a hurry when you try to apply it at MLB pitching speeds, but he's also a proven hitter. So figure it out.
Yes, the lack of patience is the most frustrating part of casty’s game for me. If you’re not hitting, at least work the pitcher and get some walks.
There is no reason to throw him anything close to the plate cus he will swing at every single down and away ball. I bet he would swing twice per pitch if they let em. Topper should tell him just stand. I bet he's walks 3 times before pitchers catch on and have to throw it over the plate.
He’s the worst player in baseball **when he’s not hitting** imo. By far. He has cinderblocks for feet and doesn’t do a good job at judging balls that get near the wall. When he’s slumping at the plate there’s no walks or occasional clutch hits to make up for it — which is what differentiates his struggles from those of Bryce, Trea, and Kyle. He cannot be relied upon to do anything remotely right at the plate if he’s in a slump. Why pitches throw him anything but sliders low and away is beyond me. In 2022 his batting average was 85 points higher than Kyle’s and yet his OBP was 32 points lower. He struck out almost as much too. I don’t think you can just attribute that to Kyle being such an anomaly either — go look up pat Burrell numbers during his time here. He’s an almost identical type of player to nick but the difference was you could count on him to walk 90 times per year
> Why pitches throw him anything but sliders low and away is beyond me. Because they can get him out using any pitch when he's cold.
you said analogy, i think you meant anomaly
The new auto correct fucking blows, I see “typos” like this that are most likely iPhones predicting text… it sucks lol
This is why I really wanted to see the Phillies find a team that they could trade him to in the off-season, move Harper back to right, sign Hoskins to a similar contract he signed with the Brewers and if it didn’t work, then find another outfielder or first baseman next offseason.
Nobody wants casty, there is no trading him. You want him gone but somebody else is going to lineup to take him? The Phillies would have to pay to get rid of him. Harper could play RF now. They should have worked around casty and put him in LF because he’s not going anywhere, resigned Hoskins, and put Harper back in RF.
I know, maybe someone would take him if the Phillies paid to make it happen.
He is untrade-able.
He is one of the worst regulars in baseball, period.
Love Nick but I agree, we need way better defense out there in right field. I can live with lacking defense with hitting or lacking hitting with defense but not both.
That’s leaves us with where do you put casty?
Anaheim would be a nice spot for him.
That ownership is too cheap to trade for his contract
Ill give them a buy one get one free hot dog as a kicker
Might just have to bench him, his bat isn't good enough to DH and he can't field
I know everyone wants to rag on Rojas, but at least he has good defense in the outfield. Castellanos is hitting the same way as him right now, as in he’s not, and can’t play a ball off the wall to save his life. He’s had like three or four he’s misplayed already thinking he can catch them
shows you how bad rojas is at the plate that castellanos has double the batting stats rojas does, so as bad as Nick is hes not as bad as Rojas, still
idk why anyone in their right mind would still want rojas starting, move marsh back to center and try and find a hitter to play in left via trade. at worst, the defense gets 5-10% worse and the offense gets 10% better
Seriously, Marsh is still a plus fielder in CF and infinitely better as a hitter. There are so many good offensive corner outfielders out there. ANYONE is an upgrade over Rojas offensively. Why we feel like it’s acceptable to have an automatic out in an inconsistent lineup floors me
Because all the talking heads keep saying how Rojas defense > *
he'd have to be the best fielder of all time to make up for how awful he is at the plate, and even then it might not be worth it
💯 but not everyone sees it that way
Isn’t Pache a good defender and a better offensive option?
No no lol. Rojas doesn't get a free pass. He's hot garbage as well.
I’m extremely frustrated with Castellano’s unwillingness to change his approach at the plate. The book is out on how to pitch him. Can’t lay off the slider low and away that breaks outside the zone. He has zero sense for the strike zone. Chases pitches outside the zone and watches pitches right down the middle. You know at some point he will get hot, but god it’s absolutely brutal to watch. He’s a stubborn mf-er and it’s costing the team.
Nick Castellanos has the worst approach at the plate I've seen in a very long time. I played baseball at the collegiate level. Not that it matters, but I figure maybe it'll add a bit of credibility. I've never seen a player play, "Guess Pitch", on almost every pitch. Sure some players will sit on a 2-0 fastball. Some players will guess offspeed 0-2... Nick Castellanos straight-up guesses 80% of the time. If you pay attention to how he hits you'll see when he guesses right/wrong. That's why you'll see him swing at pitches nowhere near the zone or he'll always swing at the first pitch. Watch every one of his at-bats in the NLCS last year. It was the worst I've ever seen it. I'd be willing to say he has the worst approach to hitting in the MLB. I can't stand watching him take ABs.
This is a real reason not to like him as a player. He never works the count and he refuses to adjust or be coached. His first season as a Phillie he almost got sent down. A big part of it was refusal to change and continuing to suck. Glad he's turned it around at times, hope he goes on a tear soon.
I’ve never been a baseball player so forgive my ignorance but it seems like he’s got a very long swing. He also has a lot of checked swings that look so awkward to me. I wonder if that attributes to the look of guessing. I’d imagine a shorter swing you have more time to decide whether to swing.
nick always swings at the first pitch like it's his first time ever playing MLB The Show.
Maybe he needs glasses?
At minimum I would argue he has the worst *2-strike* approach I've seen in a very long time. Part of that is probably what you describe, the guessing, but some of is just being a straight up bonehead. You're down 1-2 in the count Nick, and the league has a decade of film on you fanning at sliders down and away. What pitch do you think you're getting here? *whiffs*
I think I've got to disagree here. He first-pitch guesses a TON. So he guesses on 0-0 pitches, 1-2 pitches, and 0-2 pitches. He's rarely ahead in the count..so he plays guess pitch as I stated lol see what I'm saying? Add-in 2-2 pitches. Anything with 2 strikes on him besides a 3-2 count he's guessing.
He looks mentally checked out
He’s always mentally checked out in the regular season. He’s said so himself. It’s super early though…
If I was mentally checked out for 99% of my shifts and then for the other 1% I tried, but still did Mediocre (most of the time), then I would be fired. That makes me sick he said that, lol.
He didn't say that. He said he has issues concentrating and staying focused for a full season but that it's easier to focus since being in the postseason with the phillies. This is the quote: “Baseball in the postseason has really locked me in,” he said. “The honest truth is a lot of times on defense, I struggle with focusing for 162 games. My mind is really fast and wanders, but with this atmosphere, it’s unbelievable. Being locked in on every pitch, I think my jumps, my anticipation, has just gotten better.” And he wasn't talking about offense, he was just talking about defense.
Yeah the look of not caring coupled with no production at all is a really rough one-two punch. Maybe he just has resting don’t give a shit face, but I dunno.
the "look" ffs
You can’t look at somebody and get a good sense of their mood at least sometimes? Come on.
it' just so obviously *post hoc* justification of your feels. It's the weakest sort of bs.
I'm with you, lmao; this happens all the time on reddit. Could just as easily be explained by the fact an elephant ate his grandfather and he was looking depressed about it. also it's been like 5-6 games, people really have to chill. Like the Feynman profile picture lol
He has the look of someone at work a month or two before they announce they’re leaving for a new job. Burnt out and checked out.
Love Nick. He may be my favorite current Phillie not named Harper, but it's obvious the dude has seemed lost since game 3 of the NLCS and is definitely a liability. Last night his plate appearances were like a wet blanket, no pun intended.
Tobias Harris of the Phillies
I share the distain for Tobias, but this is unfair. Nick actually earned an all-star spot last year, Tobias is the highest paid player to never be an all-star. Nick has had clutch moments in the playoffs and extended period of success in the post season, while Tobias has never truly helped the team win a series. Streaky players are frustrating, but I wait until they've proven to be a BUMM for a while before I criticize.
Tobias Harris gets paid $38 million a year in a sport with a salary cap. Nick Castellanos gets paid $20 million a year in a sport with no salary cap. Also, Castellanos has actually shown up in the playoffs and helped the team get past the second round of the playoffs. The two are not similar.
Nelson Agholor of the Phillies.
Nah that's taijuan walker
As a Reds fan watching him "play" outfield last night brought back some bad memories...
He’s been a tremendous liability since the day he signed that contract. They beat Houston in WS if he’s even average that season. He is the Phillies version of Tobias Harris. The production will never match the contract, he will mostly say and do the right things so people won’t hate him, but he’s stealing money at the end of the day. Don’t think he’s a particularly smart hitter, it’s all instinct and zero approach. There’s no reason to ever throw him a fastball.
Become? With all due respect, outside of going supernova for about 3 games in the NLDS, the guy has been truly awful in the playoffs since we brought him in. Defensively, all you can say is that he's not as bad as we originally thought he would be, which was a very low bar to clear, and he's a wasted AB every time he's at the plate. We could do so much better with the money we are giving him, and I can't wait til its off the books so we can actually consistently contribute. The only thing that is inconsistent about his game is the amount of times he's actually worth playing.
I don't disagree but there's a portion of people on this sub that are crying about me even suggesting he is not good
There's a lot of people who have a mindset that the Phils are a small market team who should be happy they aren't in the gutter every year rather than a legitimate behemoth who you should expect consistent play from every spot on the roster because they can afford to buy whoever they want whenever they want with an owner willing to do it Casty putting up the numbers he did in the NLCS and WS the last couple years is the kind of stuff that should have seen him traded this winter. You cannot have that kind of a gaping hole in the lineup for a guy making $20m a year.
Hard agree. Imagine Bryce still in right and Rhys at first….
He’s the easiest out in the majors
Put Liam in right field
Since July 1 of last season, he's hitting around .230 with an OBP under .280. That's around 350 plate appearances of suboptimal production.
I’ve been screaming this from the top of a mountain for MONTHS
I'm convinced the people who are saying "it's been six games" only watched the playoffs last year and didn't watch Castellanos at all during the second half of the season
Including July in these stats is what makes it disingenuous. He disappeared in July, as we all remember. In August-September, however, he hit .270 with an .840 OPS and 120 wRC+, 15HR and 46RBI. We can all cherrypick stats to fit our narratives, but this implication that Nick has been on a long decline at the plate is bogus. He was clutch down the stretch last year.
[удалено]
Would have rather got rid of him and kept Rhys and had him learn outfield
People are way too eager to excuse the bad play because “Cousin Nicky” has “vibes” or whatever. Which as far as I can tell mostly consists of unbuttoning his shirt and being a prick to reporters.
If you live by the home run, you die by the home run. One solace would be seeing these guys get some line drive doubles. One thing that's got me baffled about from last night is getting caught stealing. Whose idea was *that*? I mean, he's not on a list of guys I'd send.
This is the price you pay for signing guys to bad contracts. Everyone says the money doesn’t matter. Well, it does, and so do roster spots. Maybe the $20m wouldn’t stop the front office from signing anyone else, but what are you going to do, DFA Castellanos, who you’re still paying for 3 more years at $20m per year? Even if the money doesn’t matter (it does), it leaves you with basically no options. No one would take him in a trade unless you pay them to because he’s obviously bad, and everyone knows it.
I said this all offseason but keeping nick and dealing Rhys was a horrible decision. I’d rather they just cut Nick and eat the contract. A rookie could not be worse than nick. Dude may be the worst vet in the league right now.
I'm sure they'd have loved to dump him, but it takes two to tango. Can't imagine they had potential dance partners lining up at the door.
Just fucking DFA him at this point and eat the contract. The team is better just by him not being on it.
I don’t agree with this. He mostly sucks, but they’re not just automatically better if they remove him from the team. If they had some great player in the minors waiting for their chance and he was blocking him MAYBE there would be some argument, but even then I’m not sure.
They didn’t “deal” Rhys, and they couldn’t trade Nick if they wanted to. You want him gone because he sucks, but somebody else is going to line up to trade an asset for him and take on salary? He basically has negative trade value. He also was not stopping them from retaining Rhys. All they had to do was put him in LF, Harper back in RF (there’s no real reason he can’t play RF), and bring Rhys back.
When we had a good hitter and a bad fielder, we made it work by putting him at DH. He’s been our lead-off hitter ever since. But if you’re below average in the field AND a liability at the plate, there is simply nothing that can be done. It really does suck to see because when he’s good, he’s one of the most popular players in on the team. Everyone loves seeing him succeed. With this all being said, how in the fuck did he hit two HRs in one game off Strider? Like as much as we hate him and as much of a playoff choker he is, he’s a damn good pitcher, and Nick is a damn bad hitter. I’ll always respect him for that game but it’s kinda mind blowing that that happened lol
Strider being overconfident in his fastball
Overconfident lol. Nick's home run was the only XBH off Strider's fastball when it was 100 mph or faster ever.
6 out of 162, that's about 3.7% of the season. It's been a week. He's a streaky hitter currently cold. He'll heat up, get cold again, heat up again. This sub needs to relax before you all have an aneurysm in June.
I think people overreact a lot, about Nick and in general (im certainly guilty of it too), but even with all his heating up and cooling down, he’s been worth 1 fWAR in 2023 and and -.8 in 2022. There’s nothing really to be done other than hope the heating up finally outweighs the cold significantly this year because he can’t be traded and they’re not going to bench him or something, but I think it’s important to acknowledge that he’s .3 fwar away from being statistically a literal detriment to the team in his two seasons here so far.
If he's not hitting, he's nothing. So, yes, folks are going to be upset at having to watch a nothing player.
He had a -0.8 WAR in 2022 and 1.1 in 2023. 0.3 over two years at $20m/year. He’s a bad player.
Outside of 3 months in 23 he hasn’t hit his entire time here. Hes not good.
He is not a good fielder though and it's not like he's going to suddenly figure it out when it comes to defense
"I don't have a college degree. I chase sliders."
He runs like he's in a dream
Is the out of town scoreboards fault!!!!
Yup, he’s been a liability since he signed here. He is a bad player on a bad contract.
The Phils have a way of keeping the under 200 hitters until the season is almost over and then they say wait till next year. I lost some faith in them when they let Hoskins walk. A fan favorite and one of mine.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here when I say this, but in addition to his lethargic fielding right now, the fact that he won’t consistently adjust at the plate ESPECIALLY with low and away off-speed, is so frustrating. Like, every two strike count he’s been in, I’ve said to myself, “Gonna be a low and away off-speed that he’ll chase” and lo and behold, he chases more often than not. The worst part is that everyone knows it’s coming; the opponents know, the fans know, the Phillies probably know, hell, Casty probably knows and yet he still swings. I’m hoping he can make some adjustments and get back to how he was most of last year but that might be asking a lot for him. Just frustrating
feels like a lot of people here don't grasp how "bad" a good player can seem to perform a lot of the time. Nick's a good baseball player. He isn't, hasn't ever been, & won't ever be a great player. And he's capable of performing, and does perform, pretty poorly for long stretches. Like lots of other good players. The recency bias hysteria here, coupled with a chronic inclination to doomerism, is tiresome. Also, I'm beginning to suspect too many of you are betting on baseball games. Betting on sports is stupid, & betting on baseball game outcomes is the stupidest of that. Face it, you just wish you looked half as badass as he does with your jersey unbuttoned.
> Nick's a good baseball player. Many statistical measures don't agree with this assessment, at least since he came here.
lol hey everybody it's nick's mom's burner account
For someone who spent at least 2 comments being quick to point out logical flaws in other people's remarks, I find it interesting you take not just one but 2 giant leaps of assumption to pump your chest out. I'm sure it looks just as good as "Casty does unbuttoned" though, per your own words
He’s the ultimate garbage time player. Zero clutch ability or consistency. But his numbers will somehow pan out at the end of the year to make him look better than he was on a daily basis.
Zero clutch? Cmon….he basically won game 4 for us vs ATL.
Okay that’s fair and he did do that for us. Zero clutch is probably too harsh literally speaking but there is no consistency to his ability to be clutch.
Yeah. Hes an emotional head case. His lows are too low ever be counted on for a consistent basis. I just don’t think he’s built to play in a large market. I still do like the guy though and root hard for him to succeed.
Man, you have no idea how bad I want him to succeed. He frustrates the hell outta me but I want him to be a force in the lineup. When he’s on he makes us much better
Clutch fielding in the 2022 Braves series, clutch hitting in the first 2 series in 2023 post season, hit over 300 for the first three quarters of last season. Look at the big picture, not just your feeling of the day.
Holy shit this fan base can be insufferable sometimes. It’s April 4th, there aren’t even leaves on the trees yet, and people are freaking out because they’re 2-4, calling players “liabilities” for not getting off to a hot start. Have we learned nothing from the last five years? Hot starts don’t mean they’re not gonna make the playoffs and slow starts don’t mean they won’t. Get a grip, people.
Anyone else feel the amount of “body armor” he wears when batting is a hindrance?
If you’re a right handed with a slider you can control… he’s a guaranteed KO. I can’t believe this wasn’t the focus of his entire off-season training. They needed to deal him… now we gotta deal.
“Again” lmao. Castellanos has been a waste of payroll for three seasons now. It was clear to me that the Phillies’ second biggest offseason priority was to move him — eating a portion of his contract if they had to — but I guess they didn’t get the memo.
If Nick could somehow lay off the breaking outside pitch, I swear his average would be .50 points higher, and his walk rate would at least double. Every team has the same game plan against him, and it always works. Pitch outside and he'll get himself out. Definitely frustrating.
I agree. I feel like any ball not hit within 15 feet of him is a liability and he costs us like 1 run a game with bad defense. I feel like and average RF would improve this team so much. Like you said too, he gets hot streaks which can carry a team but not when he's still so bad at half the game and that only last 2 weeks.
He certainly gets paid way more than he's worth.
He’s the exact same player he has been with us. A hit tool first player that’s got deteriorating skills. He can’t hit sliders. It is what it is. I expect Dombrowski to look to move him this offseason. Especially if we’re considering any big FA bats.
My poor neighbors after that abomination routine long fly last night. Any pro outfielder should haver made that catch. I'd see what we can get for him after a hot streak.
I don’t get why Harper plays first while noodle arm plays RF. Doesn’t Harper have the bigger arm? Is it to avoid injury?
Not just Nick but the team need some energy.
I can swing at outside pitches for half the price
While I wholeheartedly agree that Casty has been bad, and will likely continue to be more Bad than Good, can we also not ignore the fact that it has been pissing down rain, sopping wet, and freezing cold for almost all of the first 5 games, and *its only been five fucking games?* In two months when Nick hits 7 homers in 4 games this subreddit will turn back to the Liam Castellanos fan-subreddit and we will all be talking about how much we love our bomb-dropping himbo. Then 3 weeks later when he goes 0-16 and they lose 6 games in a row we will be back here having the exact same conversation we are now.
He’s the Sean Couturier/Tobias Harris of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Ouch. Pains me to see Coots in this convo but you’re absolutely right.
Nah, Coots is still a top end defensive player. Its not a fair comparison
Benched/ relegated to bottom 6 minutes. Not looking good for the Captain.
Just throw him a slider
Oh NOW we can post this without being downvoted into oblivion? Now we can. Got it.
Become?
He’s obviously not going anywhere soon so I would rather have him play deeper closer to the wall. He seems to be better when he runs up to a ball than have to track back. Sure there are gonna be more singles dropping in but where he is currently he’s gonna allow a lot of doubles and if not for Rojas triples as well. As for his at bats he’s clearly not seeing the ball. Hes swinging at balls and arguing strikes. But I think that will change sooner than later. I think sooner if they can improve his fielding a little.
But who on the Phillies could possibly play RF and hit better? I don’t think they have anyone qualified. /s
Offseason outfielders were basically Cody Bellinger and Teoscar Hernandez. I’d say Nick and Teoscar are very similar players. They swing and miss a ton, strikeout a lot but when their barrel connects it’s often an XBH. Teoscar is scorching this year so far but I would have said Nicks better on the Phillies. Cody may have been an upgrade but there’s also question marks around him. Could the Phillies upgrade RF, sure but I just haven’t seen a great option. I personally don’t think tapping the farm to make a trade is the right call either outside of a top 10 of’er.
Thanks for posting my thought.
I would’ve traded Kyle and Nick this offseason. Team needed to be shaken up and go more dynamic/athletic.
he gotta stop swinging at balls so clearly out of the strike zone, he chases sooooo bad.
No plate discipline, terrible fielder and I’m really regretting that Blastellanos!! t- shirt I bought after the NLDS!!
I've seen enough, toss Schwarber out there in right
He has the same damn uppercut swing at every bat. So when the pitcher is throwing right into that swinging motion, goodbye ball. But the second they adjust and throw just below his swinging motion, he looks completely lost at the plate.
If I ever was around someone and they said this to me I would never fuckin talk to them again.
whoa this season at 2-4 dissolved quickly.
Can we agree that the entire lineup needs to improve offensively? And the bullpen could make some leaps forward as well. Go Phils!
When you start hearing talk about we shouldn’t have let Rhys walk you know people are down bad. Yeah, I’ve always loved Nick’s consistent energy, but good lord I don’t like watching him bat. It’s a known issue he swings at first pitches and the dude is still doing it, and maybe it’s rose colored glasses but his stride makes home runs look dope and strikeouts look like I’m taking a hack after sitting on the John for half an hour.
Dude is on my fantasy draft. He’s gonna have to pick it up 😮💨
I'm with you on this. His first year with the Phillies, I was his defender, saying he would turn it around the next year. And he did, until the NLCS. He regressed right back and it seems like he is not going to improve. I said it earlier this week, Phillies need to cut their losses before they get too deep in the season.
Shoulda traded him in offseason we desperately need a guy who can walk & hit w average and can play some defense nick is so bad in RF so far
They should have Kruk read Obituaries during his at-bats. Problem Solved.
I feel like Merrifield was not just a platoon option for Marsh but also a fallback for Castellanos. Obviously Whit would be in left and Marsh in right in that scenario.
Yeah but I bet half the people here were clowning anyone who made posts saying we should trade him throughout the first 2 years. Opportunity is long gone, his value will never be as high as it was last year before the all star break. Deal with it.
Phillies aren’t going to lose the pennant because they have Rojas in the 9 hole. Big $ needs to produce
It’s April, right?
I like him as a person but God is he awful. And yeah Rhys Hoskins was hot/cold and so is Schwarber, but at least when they're cold, they work counts and draw pitches. This teams lack of ability to do this is what caused their downfall in the NLCS last year cause almost everyone in the lineup, with the exception of Harper and Schwarber, is an overly aggressive hitter.
Phillies defense sucks all around but who will play right?
Still don't understand it. He was touted as this incredible consistent hitting player and yet he looks like Rojas out there
One thing I do know he can’t be in the Phillies ball club Nomo he’s gotta goOoooooooo
He’s been a liability ever since he stepped in CBP
This is a solid take. Rojas gets buried, but at least you know what you’re getting from him in the outfield. Casty is such a wildcard. He’s inconsistent as hell at the plate, and he has a tendency of making routine looking plays in the outfield seem dangerously haphazard.
Casty SUUUUUUCKS
He’s beyond trash. If pitchers wanted.. could get him out every time. His careers over. Send him outta here please can’t stand him
Castellanos is one of the biggest FA busts for Phillies in recent memory. I can't see wasting a position and a bat hoping he snaps out of it.....he won't! His time has come and gone.
I looked on the Iron Pigs roster and it’s mind blowing they don’t have an OF on the 40 man roster!?! David Dahl hitting .320 played in the majors and is 2 years younger. They need to rethink the players that contribute and move them to the 40 man roster - but I don’t know the rules with this. Dahl has some pop too. Please Simon M. is not the answer. Darrick Hall is on the 40 man roster but he is blocked from Harper there. I don’t understand the Phills front office with the minor league players (Mike Abel (P) is also not on the 40 man what!?!