The team looks great rn and I like the way they look but with all due respect this is concerning. This guy is allergic to getting walked and can’t hit anything that isn’t a fastball…one of the worst contracts in the MLB rn
He has, but his plate discipline has been even worse since he came to the Phils. Which makes me believe Kevin Long isn't discouraging his approach (or lack there of)
Honestly, when you've been in the majors for ten years, why would you listen to a hitting coach? How would you? You've been playing the game since you were six years old. By the time you're 32, you are what you are. You can't undo 26 years of muscle memory with a couple nights in the batting cages
To be fair, that coaching was critical when Trea Turner forgot how to even hit a baseball. When his muscle memory began hallucinating, he had to reexamine everything.
that is not true. i’ve been watching harper since he was in Harrisburg PA with the Double-A Senators. his stance and small parts of his swing have changed many times over the years. judge is a perfect example too. the reason these guys stay at the top is bc they are coachable. i bet ppl forget when harper had the crazy leg kick with the unorthodox bat flare.
casty would not be in the league rn if not for miguel cabrera, he saved his swing. the issue with nick is his approach. he goes up to bat every single time, willing to swing at the first pitch no matter what. before coming to philly, the stats were good enough to swallow the chase rate. somehow, he’s regressed ever since signing
Think Ohtani realizes there's a hole in some aspect of his game, some opportunity to improve his performance, and thinks "you can't undo muscle memory, might as well ignore the coach and not improve"?
That's the difference between players who happen to be talented enough to make the show and a superstar.
I’ve made this argument a ton and always get told “THEN WHAT ARE HITTING COACHES FOR?!”
Which the answer is game planning. But yeah once a guy makes it to the major leagues, you ain’t changing much with their swing or approach ( for most ).
This is such a milquetoast WIP caller take. You can extrapolate this so many other silly takes. Why do therapy, you’ve been able to handle yourself for X years. Why go to the gym, you’ve been able to move for X years. Why get help for anything? lol
Absolutely wrong. Players can absolutely make changes to their game to stay on top. You can definitely improve something like that with enough effort and training regimen. It’s not like you’re locked into swinging at pitches way out of the zone lmao. It’s a conscious choice to swing at those pitches. Which means it can be fixed, if he’s willing to put in the effort.
That's not really how it works. Your form can slip and change over time. Simple things like small injuries (even just muscle tightness) can lead to deviations from that swing that got you to the MLB.
A great hitting coach should be more familiar with your swing than you are and notice these shifts. His goal should be to guide you back, not radically change your swing or approach.
Anecdotally, I have heard that basically no, he does not. And he doesn’t look at data, anything like that. He’s very much an instinctive player. See baseball, hit baseball. Sometimes it works and he’ll have little hot streaks. But overall as we’ve seen it is probably not benefitting him.
But who knows - maybe if he started really digging in, listening to analytics and coaching staff more, he’d be a total mess.
But he is a great defender. Oh wait
Well, he is not like he is paid a lot. Oh wait
At least he runs hard on every at bat. Oh wait. He has a good eye for the strike zone. Hmmm
The reason for this is the Cobra Effect. Believe it or not... NOT doing this actually ends up at the exact same outcome in the long term, but worse.
Most teams have this level of loyalty, and if you choose not to, it hurts you a lot in future FA negotiations.
30yo FA's, surprisingly, don't want to sign 6 year deals with teams that have a precedent suggesting you'll get benched for two entire seasons at the end of the deal... putting you in a bad spot out of the gate in negotiations... and if you don't want to mend that difference, then you'll eternally have to 1) Lose players you could have gotten cause they got to pricy 2) Overpay for the players you were able get 3) Be more likely to hear FA's don't wanna consider you at all
So now, with that reputation... you'll likely have to either give them contract language so they don't use it against you, which is brutal for future precedent of all FA's will want that from you moving forward, (and thus never get chances to mend that reputation by showing how you treat FA's when they don't have that language moving forward, cause they all do... locking in that reputation)
The only way to break that reputation is by overpaying players, and then keep them starting when don't deserve it... essentially bringing you to the exact same situation you were trying to avoid, but worse... because you're paying that player even more and, because you're trying to help your reputation, you're even more loyal to the player as a result.
And this has been your TED Talk for some of the politics behind contract beyond just strict "what are they worth"
There’s very few other RH options to replace him with. Outside of Kemp & Wilson, the RH options on the roster are bad. It’s why he and JT are hitting 4-5. While Casty is streaky, when he’s hot, he’s the best RH hitter they have (which isn’t saying much).
Im firmly convinced they’re going to trade him this winter. There was talk this summer and his name came up last winter too. Apparently, the Phillies had Justin Crawford untouchable in trade talks. Which I think means there’s OF changes coming and likely not just replacing Kepler with Crawford. A 32 yo who can be a decent bat at the DH spot on a 1 year deal. Teams will 100% interested in him as a 1 year rental they could always QO or trade at the deadline next year. The only way (outside of injury) he loses that value is by going 0 for his last 120 and shitting the bed in the playoffs OR upsetting him with a demotion of PT and get him requesting a trade.
He’s not a great option but he’s the best choice of a bad lot. I’m okay with 1.5 months (and whatever of the playoffs) with Casty in RF if it keeps his trade value so we can finally move on in the OF and start getting younger.
A terrible ball player that half the fanbase likes because they either think he’s cute or like his quirky interviews. Cannot wait for his contract to expire
I like Casty the player he has been solid since he came here. I expected him to be better but he has been mostly a good player here not including his defense. He seems to be struggling in every facet of the game this year and somehow got worse defensively which I didn’t think was possible. I will always like him for what he has done here but I won’t miss him after the team moves on after the year. I don’t see any possible scenario where they would bring him back.
Castellanos hasn’t struggled this season, in fact, he’s been one of the most consistent players offensively. He’s going through a cold spell for a week or so but what player hasn’t??
I couldn’t stand Castellanos when he first got here but he’s not only a decent player but a great clubhouse guy (I don’t put too much weight on that but it’s definitely a positive attribute.)
I’m honestly baffled at the hate Nick gets. He gets blamed for everything, it’s bizarre to me. Bohm, Stott, Marsh get a pass. They’ll love a player, Johan Rojas, that doesn’t even deserve to be in the majors but wanted to keep the experiment going. Rob Thomson, who is a rally killer and had no urgency to win, gets praised for winning but forget that the players win in spite of him, not because of him. Everyone gets a pass but Nick is somehow the problem??? It reminds me of when fans literally blame the backup catcher for losing the NLCS & that he needed to go.
A .299 OBP across an entire season isn’t “going through it”….this man has never changed his approach. He doesn’t get walked. He chases outside sliders. He plays below average defense….all while being paid 100 million. He needs to be better or it will cost them again in the playoffs just like it has the past 3 years
I'm very critical of Nick and can't wait til we replace him, but last postseason he and Bryce were the only ones who showed up, you can't blame him at all for that series.
Wow wow wow now, he doesn't chase outside sliders. He throws his bat at sliders that are 3 feet into the next batter's box, there's a difference! Gonna be memes of him at the end of the year, they gonna do him like they did javy baez
PCA steals bags and plays elite defense. Two things Nick does not do. Let me be clear as well I’m not hating on the guy because he’s a great teammate and locker room presence. But objectively…those are bad #’s and he is indeed allergic to getting walked
Seriously. Throws hissy fits when he's replaced as the awful fielder that he is...Rob Thompson is clearly scared to platoon or replace him in the last innings at this juncture. He might be a nice guy and I'm sure that a good portion of this board is physically attracted to him. But from what I've seen, he's just a dude on the team. I see no great leadership qualities or above average comradery.
FWIW this is a bit revisionist, plenty of stories on the Athletic and ESPN last few years about Nick taking more of a leadership role, ie. helping young players, speaking up in meetings, even this year cooling down the Harper/Manfred fight. Play on the field has reached new lows this year unfortunately but theres a lot of evidence that he’s a good teammate.
Guys he stinks. He’s crapped the bed the 2022 and 2023 postseasons. He’s incredibly streaky and his defense is horrendous. If I could trade him this offseason I would.
Idk about “atrocious.” In 2023, he was the first player in MBL history to have back to back multi-HR games in the post season. His OPS in the NLDS against the Braves was 1,800! Yeah, his bat went cold against the Dbacks in the NLCS, but so did everyone’s.
Selective memory In my opinion. He's played In many playoff series with us and only been good in two. He was just REALLY REALLY good in those. Which matters but I wouldn't say he's "historically hot in the postseason"
Wrong. Outside of the ATL series in 23 and NY last year he’s actually been incredibly garbage in the postseason. Has MULTIPLE series with .100/.100/.400 type slash lines
You could cherry pick stats like that for most guys in the postseason. Including Ohtani, Judge, and others. He's been great and he's been terrible. So have many others on the Phillies. He's by no means the only streaky dude.
Ok but saying he’s been historically hot in the postseason is factually incorrect. Out of 8 playoff series he’s played well in 2 of them. That’s not “historically hot”. And saying he’s a streaky hitter is generous at this point. He’s been below average for about 75% of his tenure with the Phillies with a few good months and 2 playoff series trickled in there.
The series against ATL WAS historically hot. Saying otherwise is just not correct. His overall postseason numbers are totally fine. His worst year in the postseason was 2022
I get he's frustrating but there are so many teams that would kill to be in our position. Even with Castellanos sucking we're 6 games up in the middle of August. Harper hasn't quite been himself all year, including missing a lot of time to injury, yet our squad is still winning games when it matters most.
If our biggest problem is one guy getting play time that sucks, then we don't have nearly as big of a problem as you think we do.
I’ve been saying it for years. I want Nick to be the worst player in baseball. When he is in the toilet the rest of the team covers for him and plays winning ball.
I like this take. I feel like he was the absolute most pathetic in April-May 2024 stretch. All the Nick Sucks posts from those months seemed to age like mill when he was mashing at the end of the season —- but that’s when the entire rest of the team lost themselves. We barely play .500 as a team OR Nick underperforms, you don’t get both.
Yep the key to the World Series is keep him on the roster, pay him 20 million a year, run him out to right field every day, put Liam in the stands, and let him be the worst player in the sport. Give him tenure even.
Hes fucking terrible. Shoutout all the people on here for last few years trying to claim hes actually good. -0.9 WAR on the season while making 20 mil ...
You guys are fucking pathetic. We just won our fourth game in a row to take a six game lead in the NL East and what do you do? Rush to Reddit to hate on one of our players bc you don’t think his OPS+ is high enough or some bullshit.
Castellanos has more RBIs than everyone on the team but Schwarber. Scored more runs than everyone but Schwarber and Turner. Also top three in doubles and home runs. And yet you fuckers are still looking for something to bitch about. Seriously, poke yourselves in the eye and take your negativity somewhere else.
Castellanos has more RBIs than everyone on the team but Schwarber. Scored more runs than everyone but Schwarber and Turner. Also top three in doubles and home runs.
You either dont understand how stats work or are deliberately choosing to playing dumb and cherrypick certain things w/o context b/c you like Casty
Hes played the most games on the team, bats 4/5 and team only has 3 good hitters with Harper missing a ton of time.
No shit hes going be top 3 in the accumulative batting stats. Thats by default of just playing the most on a team that has only had 2 good hitters play all year.
His actual play has been atrocious. HE HAS A NEGATIVE -0.9 WAR on the season. Hes performed below replacement level lmao.
Hes dead last on team in WAR, 11th in OBP, 9th in OPS and is worst defensive player in entire league
Or google 'runs created leaders mlb 2025 baseball savant'
Nick at the very least is not the worst in this category, but it's important to note that when Nick plays games he very slightly but actively hurts run creating opportunities.
He’s played just about every game this season so yeah, I’d expect him to be second at least in most of those categories. You can get as mad as you want but his #’s don’t agree with your feelings. He’s been bad.
Because hes played the most games, bats 4th and team has only had 2 good hitters play all season. Harper missing all that time takes him out. So by default hes going to be finishing top 3 in most of the ACCUMULATIVE stats.
Hes absolutely not been a top 3 hitter on the team though.
His OPS and OBP are 9th and 11th on team. Hes still been a very mediocre hitter. Hes just hit more than anybody and been in 4 spot.
I mean that’s a little unfair. Casty has also been awful offensively and Kepler may not be a Bader or Rojas but the person he’s being compared to has an argument for top 5 worst defensive players in baseball. He’s got some RBI’s but we also play him every game and bat him in the meat of the lineup. I also think Kepler sucks but at a certain point if we’re picking between a bunch of guys that are a losing proposition at the plate, at least Rojas plays elite defense. Casty’s actively hurting you on both ends right now
Kepler is coachable, willing to do the dirty work like lay down bunts, honestly a harder out at the plate at this point, plays better defense, and runs the bases harder than Casty. From the outside looking in, it also seems like he's more engaged with the rest of the team on a personal basis, too.
What do you mean you "understand his struggles in the field and plate discipline but really?" Castellanos is not doing anything well right now. Why should he keep starting and playing significant minutes? I don't understand the "but really" here.
Meanwhile, I can count two games in the last week or so that Kepler personally won for us with late hits to drive in runs. One player is contributing and one is not. It really should just be that simple sometimes.
Never said that. He has earned his starting spot on this team. Just needs to be better come postseason. He’s been absolutely abysmal the past two playoff runs and this is a big reason why…
The last two playoff runs his cumulative OPS is .898. He hit five homers in the 2023 playoffs, including becoming the first player in MLB history to have consecutive multi-HR games. His per/162 numbers for ‘23 and ‘24 postseasons would have him on pace for 57 HR, 95 RBI, 86 R.
What the actual fuck are you talking about? You think every player is supposed to be like 2002 Barry Bonds in the playoffs, otherwise he’s trash?
This bad in the post season narrative has been disproven with stats by multiple posters, but you refuse to accept it. His stats for 34 playoff games are pretty good. Yes. He exploded in some series and stunk it up in others, but that's playoff baseball. All the greats do that. 34 games. 29 hits. I'd sign up for that. No one is consistent in the playoffs.
Yes. After he's gone, an upgrade will be swell, but I'm happy with his playoff numbers. Regular season? Not so much.
Him gettin benched earlier this season was sign that casty wont be a phil more than likely goin forward. Put bryce back out there and get us another good batter who can play 1st
He finished last year with an fWAR of .4. He’s been basically awful since the ASB in 23. This is only streakiness in terms of going from usable to unplayable. Usually the latter.
Casty was Phillies' most consistent hitter down the stretch last year, so he can hit. And for a while it looked like he had improved on discipline. But he is very streaky. Makes me wonder if they are keeping Kepler around for RF. Maybe a bake-off with Crawford next year.
If that’s because you like the guy, fine, but you need to acknowledge how unbelievably awful he’s been on the team this year. Like actively holding them back awful.
It’s why his contract is an albatross. He’s always sucked defensively, but his offense was at least somewhat decent. But now his defense is somehow worse, and his offense is dropping off.
Plus, it’s 2025, not 2022, I don’t give a fuck about “vibes” guys anymore. We did “vibes” in 2022 and 2023, with that fucking Calum Scott song. And it got us nothing.
Yeah. I mean he's a huge FA miss, but the Phillies had 3 of the best FA hits in modern history with Harper, Wheeler and Schwarber. That isn't hyperbole either. These were historic signings.
Casty is a big bust. No argument there. 2 more seasons. I'll be pulling for him. Despite what OP said, his playoff numbers are decent. Hoping for another big series or 2.
Since he signed with the Phillies, Casty has had .8 FWAR in almost 4 complete seasons. Edmundo Sosa has provided more value in 67 games this season. Johan Rojas is worth .5 FWAR this season in 71 games. Sports fans in general will definitely go after players that are undeserving of so much hate, but Casty is not one of them.
Def in club riff. Most players speak well of Rob so I'm wondering if Nick said something out of pocket. I still want him because of that chemistry between their core players. But if he isn't a part of that chemistry there's no real reason to keep him.
I like Nick and I like Rhys Hoskins, but we both know that they're streaky hitters and we bank on them getting hot at the right time or hot when our other guys are cold to help us. I included Hoskins because to me, that's a fair comparison of removing one bat from the lineup and having Nick be 'that guy' of the streaky feast.
Castellanos gives me strong Pat Burrell vibes with how he'll be remembered - except we can't play 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon with Casty, in knowing someone he fucked while out one night, like we can with Burrell.
If the Phillies win the World Series? He'll be remembered in a positive light.
I've always called him a pinata swinger, but he had a long stretch where he was very productive. Recently... Eh he's not even getting candy on these at bats
Has been garbage for 4 of his playoff series as a Phillie and average in 2 of them out of 8 total btw. So no probably won’t be needing those apology forms he’ll be riding the wagon as usual and contribute minimal
Don't forget about his terrible defense, and my god, he is sooooo slow. I honestly know I could beat him in a foot race and am an outta shape 30 something year old dad.
He's the first to admit he goes to the plate with no plan. I love Casty, but not sure a hitting coach will change that mindset. I'm sure plenty have tried.
Let’s be honest he’s average at BEST but the bottom 1/3 of our lineup isn’t very productive. I was happy with our bullpen moves at the deadline but really thought Dave would try and bring a bat to help us. Fingers crossed our pitching holds up if it does and we get Nola back we will be right there at the end
Considering he plays every day and bats in the 5 hole consistently + in the worst defensive outfielder in baseball yes I’d say it’s a pretty glaring concern and flaw in their lineup.
I low key hope he's had a phantom injury of some kind, Crawford comes up and plays even just slightly better and takes the starting job and we release him.
Not only that, but he’s the worst outfielder I’ve ever seen! Slow, lazy, misjudging, bad arm, etc. Phillies need some adjustments or they’ll sink fast in the post season.
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u/Mokslininkas Aug 12 '25
Does Casty EVER talk to a hitting coach?
He's been swinging at balls in the dirt for 3+ years now. It's fucking insane.
And I feel like he starts almost every at bat 0-2 now.