Philadelphia Phillies Star Explains His Approach at the Plate

The Philadelphia Phillies star outfielder has been hitting well as of late and gave some insight on his approach.

Aug 29, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos (8) hits a two RBI home run during the seventh inning against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park. / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

In recent years, the Philadelphia Phillies have done a great job of building a reliable core. After not having a record above .500 for nine straight seasons, their rebuild has helped them reach back-to-back National League Championship Series. One of those players, Nick Castellanos, has had a rough go of it this season. As of late, he has gotten hot, and he recently talked about his approach at the plate and lineup construction.

Prior to August beginning, the 32-year-old had been slashing .241/.292/.407 with a .700 OPS and 15 home runs. It was not exactly the production the Phillies had hoped for out of one of their star sluggers.

This month has been a different story, though. In 25 games, the outfielder raised his OPS by nearly 30 points while adding more home runs and 16 RBIs.

In a recent talk with the media, he explained how his approach in the batters box is directly related to where he is in the lineup.

"Knowing that my style of hitting, which is always, like, glorified batting practice, I don't really have an approach. I look for the baseball and hit it as hard as I can," he said.

This style of hitting is nothing new. "See ball, hit ball," is something everyone is taught from the moment they step onto a field. However, given the analytical world of baseball, it's not exactly the most used approach anymore.

It could also lead to being taken advantage of by pitchers more often, say if a hitter is not looking for a certain pitch and just wants to hit whatever it is hard.

The two time All-Star continued, relating his approach to his spot in the lineup.

"Having protection behind me usually forces the pitcher to throw to me more when there are people behind me. If I'm on, let's say, the cliff of the lineup where the power starts to drop off, now the approach is, like, 'well, we don't have to throw this guy a strike.' That's hard for me because I don't think I've ever gone to the plate looking to walk," Castellanos explained.

The numbers on this do ring true. Since August 15, the two time Silver Slugger hasn't hit lower than fifth in the lineup, and all of his home runs have come since then. As an player in the style of an old school slugger, Castellanos could use all of the strikes he can get.

Nick Castellanos is never one for a boring quote. In this case, he knows who he is as a player and hitter and what is best for him at the plate. The numbers show that, and the Phillies will definitley need him if they want to make another long playoff push.