Nick Castellanos stands at the plate during the seventh inning at Citizens Bank Park on August 1, 2025. (Grace Del Pizzo/On Pattison) John Del Pizzo
Nick Castellanos swings at the first pitch of an at bat - a lot.
If you follow Phillies commentary on social media, or listen to talk radio or Philly sports podcasts, you will find that it's a topic of conversation there as well.
"Why does he swing at the first pitch every time," or some other, similar but still hyperbolic question born out of frustration when the team struggles to produce.
But is it a fair question?
I decided to look into it.
Castellanos has had 447 plate appearances coming into Monday's game against Baltimore. He has swung at the first pitch in 247 of them (55.3%).
That's probably less than most people realized, but it's still a very aggressive percentage. The Major League average is 32.2%.
But there is a reason Castellanos is so aggressive early in the count.
When he puts the ball in play on the first pitch this season, he is 35-for-77 (.455) with 11 doubles and seven homers. His OPS on those at bats is 1.319.
I feel something I can’t explain when Nick Castellanos homers pic.twitter.com/HTesZbQPG4
So, why would anyone throw him a pitch to hit on the first pitch?
Well, he does swing through a lot of them. He's either swung and missed or fouled a ball off 68.8% of the time he swings at a first pitch.
So if you are a pitcher, the odds are still in your favor that you are going to get ahead 0-1 on Castellanos.
But him swinging at that first pitch, whether he makes contact or not, is still a strong proposition for success for Castellanos.
In those 247 plate appearances where he swings at the first pitch, whether he makes contact or not, Castellanos is slashing .311/.332/.506 with an .838 OPS.
In the 200 plate appearances when he takes the first pitch, he's slashing .214/.280/.346 for a .626 OPS.
That's a stark difference.
"It's just the result of a kid that's always been ready to hit," Castellanos said. "I'm just ready to hit. If it's a good pitch, I kind of let it go and I get a good swing off.
"Like I've said in the past, I don't really go up there with a plan. It's see ball, hit ball for me. When I'm relaxed and taking my swing, I have the greatest margin for error to put a ball in play hard, whether it's a fastball or an off speed pitch, it just needs to be somewhere close enough to the box."
Part of the criticism of Castellanos is that he chases pitches out of the zone, but that's nothing new. He chases pitches when he's scuffling just as frequently as he chases pitches when he's hot. That's his makeup. You have to be willing to accept that with him.
And one of the things that does seem to happen often with him is he is that as aggressive as he is, he does end up in two-strike counts more than half the time (51.2%). And his slash line with two strikes, like almost everyone else, isn't good.
Which is all the more reason he should be swinging early in the count, and especially first pitch.
If there is something for the critics to latch on to, it's that Castellanos' splits against lefties and righties are disparate, and his OPS totals are down from his career.
Castellanos remains very good against left-handed pitchers, slashing .289/.341/.463 with an .804 OPS, even though his career average against lefties is .300 and his career OPS is .869, these numbers are still viable for a late middle of the order bat.
However, against righties his numbers this year are far more mediocre (.260/.295/.426; .721 OPS) and below his career average .765 OPS.
Combine this with his faltering defense - his Outs Above Average according to StatCast is minus-10, worst among any outfielder in the majors and tied for third worst overall - and there seems to be some internal discussion about whether or not Castellanos should continue to be a full-time starter down the stretch and into the playoffs.
… and that is why Nick Castellanos should be replaced in RF, when appropriate.#Phillies pic.twitter.com/ECBGr35SqH
It's surprising, especially since the Phillies outfield, as a collective, isn't very good. Castellanos at least provides league average offensive production.
But the Phillies may be on the brink of calling up top outfield prospect Justin Crawford. They have been reluctant to do so yet because they want him to play every day and they haven't felt that he would get that opportunity right now in the majors.
But, according to a report from Matt Gelb at The Athletic over the weekend, the Phillies are at least discussing this possibility.
According to the report, the Phillies are considering two options for their outfield beginning with the upcoming 10-game road trip this weekend that commences in Texas.
The first option is to take players currently on the team and make a static outfield of Brandon Marsh in left, Harrison Bader in center and Castellanos in right.
But another idea that was tossed around, according to Gelb, is that if the Phillies recall Crawford, maybe it impacts Castellanos' playing time in right.
It seems like an unnecessary move that could unnecessarily upset the apple cart in the clubhouse.
Crawford would have to come up and do something similar to what he's doing in Triple-A (.326/.410/.425; .835 OPS) to have it makes sense to remove Castellanos from a full-time role.
The Phillies lack power, and while Castellanos isn't going to hit 30 homers this season, he is third on the team in dingers with 15 behind Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.
RIGHT AFTER OVI BROKE GRETZKY'S GOALS RECORD, NICK CASTELLANOS HIT A GRAND SLAM HOMER pic.twitter.com/RlKK0BWZRM
And Crawford hasn't shown much pop at all. He has just three home runs for Lehigh Valley.
A team that struggles to hit balls out of the park would become even weaker.
For his part, manager Rob Thomson won't discuss the plan. On Friday he said he was going to platoon center and left field for six games and then they might consider something else.
Asked if he's planning on keeping with the current platoons with Bader, Marsh, Max Kepler and Weston Wilson after the Baltimore series, Thomson gave a curt response.
"Not necessarily, but I haven't even gotten there yet," he said.
It's a conversation that no one wants to seem to talk about. Not President Dave Dombrowski when asked about how he envisioned Harrison Bader's role when he acquired him on deadline day. Not Thomson. And certainly not Castellanos.
"I think the media provides the information of their opinion of the game and I feel like the only real opinion that matters for me, for the game, are the ones that have kind of, like done it, because those are the people I relate to the most."
Fair. The people who have played the game at the highest level are far more knowledgeable about the sport than those of us who saw our baseball careers flame out in high school (yours truly), but still want to talk about the sport anyway.
But we aren't always just sharing opinion. A lot of times we are using well-researched data and well-sourced information. I'm certain that what Gelb wrote is both.
Would Castellanos feel the same way if it were a positive report?
"The problem is ... like in the past, when I looked at the positive (reports) you can't help but get caught up on the negative too," he said. "So, if you ignore the cheers it's easier to ignore the boos."
Always the philosopher.
Either way, we're only a few days from finding out how all this cryptic outfield stuff plays out. Until then, Castellanos will control what he can control and not worry about what may or may not befall him or his role on the team.
He should take the advice of another well-known philosopher - Dory the blue tang fish.
"Just keep swinging..."
Or something like that.
