Manager Rob Thomson has steadfastly chosen to keep Castellanos in the lineup, which is something his outfielder appreciates. The Phillies have played 24 games and Castellanos has played in all 24. He isn’t sure he’d benefit from a day or two off.
“I don’t know [if it would help], you know?” Castellanos said. “There’s the competitor in me that enjoys the 162-game challenge. I’ve never played 162 games. That’s something I would love to be able to do. But he’s the manager.
“The one thing I can say is that physically, I’ve put myself in a good position, because my body feels great. Now it’s just kind of finding that rhythm where — a couple of hits to fall, you get some happy-go-lucky energy, and baseball becomes a game again, instead of something you’re trying so hard to figure out.”
He’s had stretches like this before. Last June, he hit .351/.387/.567 with five home runs. In July, he hit .162/.194/.303 with four home runs. He’s been through these rhythms, and knows, after parts of 12 MLB seasons, that he will work his way out of it.
“I know last year, I was pretty much worthless in the month of July, you know?” he said. “And I’ve gone through stretches where I’m out of wack, and all of a sudden it clicks, and everybody’s like holy [expletive], what did you figure out?
“Nothing. It’s baseball. The highs and lows.”
Nick Castellanos does not enjoy being a streaky hitter. But that is what he is, and he has learned how to manage the highs and the lows. Right now, he is in a low. After going 0-for-4 in an 8-1 loss to the Reds on Tuesday night, the Phillies right fielder is hitting .184/.245/.207 on the season with 21 strikeouts and seven walks. He has just one extra-base hit — the triple he hit on April 20.
He is striking out less (23.3%) and walking more (7.8%) than he was in 2023, but by and large, the results aren’t there. Nevertheless, he feels like his swing has been more consistent of late. He isn’t thinking as much, which is helpful, because overthinking is not useful in times like these. The tricky thing about slumps is that the harder you try to get out of them, the longer they last.
So, he is going to continue to trust the process.
“I have the same setup. Same keys,” he said on Tuesday. “Not looking too hard for something else. Staying positive. And that’s pretty much all I can do.”
Castellanos is a hitter who trusts his feel. And he knows what it feels like when he’s going in the right direction. This is why he’s been more encouraged over the past few days. Sometimes the hits drop — like they did on Monday, when he went 2-for-4 — and sometimes they don’t, but he has been feeling like he’s taking better swings.
“I felt good yesterday, I felt good today,” he said. “I think I took five, or six, or eight rips that I wanted to get off. And when I’m going right, every swing that I’m taking is one I can stand behind. And that’s the only thing that I’m focusing on now, because the rest is out of my control.”
Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos is hitting .184/.245/.207 on the season with 21 strikeouts and seven walks.
Heather Khalifa / Staff Photographer
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