Comfortable at home, Castellanos keeps rolling
Plays critical role in record-tying six HR blowout of Braves
PHILADELPHIA — Nick Castellanos’ performance in the 2022 postseason was one of many things he swept away once the season ended.
That Castellanos had batted .185 in 17 postseason games, that he didn’t hit a playoff home run, that he made the final out of the World Series in Houston in Game 6 – all those facts were on the slate he wiped clean for season 2 in Philadelphia.
The disappointments of the past were far from Castellanos’ mind when he stepped into the box Wednesday against Bryce Elder to lead off the third inning at Citizens Bank Park.
“I knew that last year felt rushed from the moment I signed this contract here to when I made the last out of the World Series,” Castellanos said, after his two homers in a 10-2 Game 3 win. “This year has been slower in all regards because it’s my second year. I think the more I become familiar, the more free I feel in my environment.”
When Castellanos feels free, the result can be fearsome. Just ask Elder, whose 1-0 sinker was launched 373 feet to left. In a game of offensive turning points, Castellanos’ won’t lead the highlights. But he stepped in with his team trailing 1-0 and Elder, the rookie All-Star, having set down the first six men in order.
His big fly nudged open the floodgates. Brandon Marsh followed with a single. Trea Turner singled, both scoring on the first of Bryce Harper’s home runs. With Elder chased, J.T. Realmuto split the left-center gap to score two runs in a rude greeting of reliever Michael Tonkin.
From six-up, six-down to 6-1, it came in the blink of an eye.
“I don’t know if it relaxes us but as the game goes on, if you don’t have a run, you I think subconsciously start trying a lot more,” Turner said. “Obviously you don’t need to or that doesn’t necessarily help, but I think subconsciously, that’s what you do. As a lineup, getting that first one up there is big.”
The Phillies tied an MLB postseason record with six home runs (Chicago Cubs, Game 3 of the 2015 NLDS). Harper and Castellanos are just the fourth pair of teammates with multiple home runs in the same game, a list that includes Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series.
Five games into the 2023 postseason, Castellanos halfway to his total of 12 hits from last year’s playoffs. He hit his first playoff home run since Game 3 of the 2014 ALDS as a Tiger.
“His at-bats the last three or four games have been outstanding,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Harris made a great play the other day to end the ball game, but that was a great at-bat. The entire second game, his at-bats were really, really good. He looks like he’s locked in right now.”
That history was more remote than Monday’s Game 2, which ended when Michael Harris II tracked down Castellanos’ fly ball at the wall in center and doubled off Harper. Castellanos called it “the perfect ending” for motivation purposes, thanks to the “jolt of emotion” that fired the Phillies.
Castellanos has a history with Elder. He took him deep twice in a Phillies’ win Sept. 20, which ended on Castellanos’ throw to the plate from foul territory in the 10th inning. He parked a 2-2 slider from Elder in the second inning in Atlanta, then in the fourth got a hold of a flat fourseamer.
Wednesday, Elder started the known first-pitch swinger with a high slider that Castellanos laid off. The second pitch, Elder’s more manageable sinker, was just in off the plate, belt high. Castellanos unloaded.
The second bomb, in the eighth off AJ Smith-Shawver, was a center-cut fastball. It flew out at 112.2 mph and carried 449 feet to left-center, the hardest and furthest of the day’s half dozen bombs.
It’s no coincidence that Castellanos’ big day comes with son, Liam, sitting near the dugout. It had been more than a month since his son had been present for a game as he started school. For someone who placed comfort, on and off the field, as central to his second-season All-Star turnaround, the effect was self-evident.
“I think I perform the best when my mind and my body are in the same exact place,” he said. “I think when Liam is here, I’m extremely present because I’m not worrying about anything else.”