Reds’ Castellanos ready to break out this season
When the Cincinnati Reds signed Nick Castellanos before the 2020 season, they viewed him as the impact bat that could take their lineup to the next level.
Castellanos, who matched Mike Moustakas for the largest free-agent contract in club history ($64 million over four years), admits there were times he pressed at the plate last season trying to be the guy who lifted a struggling offense. He was the best hitter in the league for the first two weeks of the season, then slumped the rest of the year.
When he showed up to spring training in February, the coaching staff noticed his focus. It helped that he was more comfortable in his second year in the organization, but he locked in quickly after playing in Cactus League games.
Hitting coach Alan Zinter chuckled when he was asked about the biggest difference between Castellanos now and last season.
“He’s got a big chip on his shoulder, to be honest,” Zinter said. “He wants to really be a good baseball player. He wants to get to the next tier of hitters. He’s really focused.”
Castellanos looked the part on Opening Day. He hit a two-run homer in his second at-bat, lining a fastball from Jack Flaherty into the left-field seats. He knew it was a home run immediately, skipping out of the batter’s box and tossing his bat as he looked at his teammates in the dugout.
He added a double in the fifth inning and a single in the ninth. He was robbed of a potential double in the first inning when Cardinals right fielder Justin Williams made a highlight catch while crashing into the wall, and a baserunning mistake took away a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
“What a day,” manager David Bell said. “We talked about his approach being right field, right-center. He really works to master that. He can turn on a ball like he did with the home run. It’s a great sign. It just shows that he’s in a great position to handle a lot of different pitches and the way they’re attacking him.”
Castellanos looked like an elite hitter all spring. He had 15 hits in 45 atbats with three homers, two doubles
and a triple. He says that he feels “pretty locked in,” but there were no major adjustments. He rid himself of his cell phone, which he called “just toxic.”
What was strange about his 2020 season is that he rated among the top hitters in the league in quality-of-contact metrics (exit velocity, hard-hit percentage). It suggests he was scorching the ball when he put it into play, but he may have been a bit unlucky in the 60game season.
When he arrived at camp this year, he didn’t want to leave anything to chance. He knows he’s a better hitter than he was last year.
“He pushed on the gas pedal a little earlier than normal and it doesn’t seem that he’s relying on what he has done in the past,” Zinter said. “He’s out to prove who he is and what he’s capable of doing. He’s pushing on that gas pedal a little sooner.”
Despite the Reds’ offensive woes last season, the front office essentially doubled down on the core of their lineup. There weren’t any major league freeagent signings or trades. They didn’t shake their offense up, confident that the shortened season was to blame for some of the things that went wrong.
It was a bet that a guy like Castellanos would be the hitter they thought he would be when he signed his four-year deal, which included an opt-out clause after each of the first two years.