The player Philadelphia wanted to love
Nick Castellanos and his fascinating relationship with Phillies fans
If it’s not already time for an obituary for Nick Castellanos’ Phillies career, we are certainly getting close. The Athletic reports ($) that the club expects to trade or release their veteran right fielder before the 2026 season and that “a separation is preferred by all parties involved.”
The 33-year-old isn’t the first baseball player to underperform after securing a huge payday. But he is among the most interesting. Castellanos retains a surprising amount of fan support for a guy whose OPS regressed from .893 with the Reds (2020-21) to .732 with the Phils (2022-25).
Philadelphia is not typically kind to highly-paid stars who fail to meet expectations. What makes Castellanos different? His memorable postseason moments? The home run meme? His looks?
Theories about Castellanos’ popularity abound, but here’s the truth: The Florida native is more Philadelphia than just about any other athlete to pass through town. Accordingly, the city desperately wanted to love him as one of its own.
At times, it did. Fans warmed to the outfielder immediately in 2022. “This is how I feed my family,” he said at his introductory Phillies press conference. “I don’t have a college degree. I hit baseballs.” It was the perfect line to win over a city that largely identifies as blue-collar, regardless of actual occupation.
And it wasn’t just a line. Bryce Harper may be the king of pandering to Philadelphia, but he can sometimes come off as scripted. Polished. Focus-group tested. Castellanos? All real.
Ask Nicholas Castellanos a question and you’ll get a genuine response, for better or worse. We will remember his interviews long after we forget his batting average.
Q: “You surprised at any of the teams that didn’t make the playoffs?”
A: [Long pause, scratches chin] “You’re always a little bit surprised when a team goes out and spends $760 million on one player and doesn’t make the playoffs . . . Not talking shit or anything . . . but usually when an acquisition like that is made, a team does better than they did in the past.”
Q: “Did you hear the boos?”
A: “Nah man, I lost my hearing. C’mon man, that’s a stupid question.”
Q: “I didn’t realize Scooby Doo was a superhero, can you explain?”
A: “Well, first off he’s a dog, right? And he can talk.” [Long pause] “And he solves mysteries. So I think a dog that can talk and helps people by solving mysteries is a superhero.”
During his time in Cincinnati, Castellanos fist-bumped a fan who told him to picture MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s face on the baseball. (He also gave the fan his headset during a postgame interview to repeat what he said.) The incident occurred shortly after he was suspended for taunting a pitcher who threw at him intentionally, causing the benches to clear. Can’t get much more Philly than that.
Maybe more than anything, Phillies fans adore Castellanos’ relationship with his son, Liam.
It is hard to dislike a guy who speaks genuinely in an era when athletes are coached to do the exact opposite. A guy who stands up to authority. A guy who loves his family and his teammates and acts like everyone else can just fuck right off.
It’s almost as if someone created him in a lab to make Philly sports fans happy.
But.
Sometimes the genuine answer to a question isn’t the appropriate answer. Sometimes the authority one rages against is a mild-mannered Canadian instead of a widely-despised Commissioner.
And sometimes, the folks who can fuck right off are the same people who pay to see you play.
“When everything’s going good and you’re rolling it’s a bitch to play [at Citizens Bank Park] when you’re an opposing team because the environment is amazing,” Castellanos told reporters after the Phillies lost NLDS games one and two to the Dodgers at home. “But if we run into adversity and the tide shifts, now we’re playing more tight because we don’t want to be reprimanded for something bad.”
There’s some truth to those words, sure. The Bank’s atmosphere can get tense when fans start to see another postseason slip away. But it’s wild to imply that anyone other than the players on the field were responsible for the Phillies’ annual postseason collapse.
Philadelphia’s adopted son should know better. There were over 40,000 people in the ballpark trying hopelessly to influence the outcome of those games. Castellanos was one of the very few that could’ve actually done so.
In the end, his comments about the NLDS are forgivable. Breakups often get messy. Whatever. Castellanos will probably not hear many boos when he visits Philly in another uniform. He may even hear cheers.
Contrary to popular belief, Philly sports fans can look beyond heartbreaking losses and appreciate who a player is as a human being.
So we’re not mad, Nick. We’re just disappointed. Things could’ve been so much better. For you, for the team, and for the city that wanted to love you. It felt like it was all right there.
Or maybe, like a breaking ball low and away, it was never quite within reach after all.
Tweets and skeets of the week
These screenshots will take you to the post if you click them.
Spike Eskin points out something I’ve noticed as well. The most unnecessarily aggressive replies to a post are almost always from people neck-deep in political slop.
I think they log in every day ready to launch some angry slurs at their ideological opponents. And they can’t turn it off for, like, a harmless discussion about re-signing Kyle Schwarber.
If you told me that Shohei Ohtani would go 1/18 with 9 strikeouts against Phillies pitching in the NLDS, I would’ve bet everything I own on a Dodgers series loss.
So thank you for not telling me that, I guess.
Do yourself a favor and watch these outtakes of Kyle Schwarber struggling to pronounce “Abbott Elementary.” Also, I can’t recommend the Phillies episode enough.
No. The answer is no. Good talk, MLB Network.
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Look at this little bastard. Trying to dracarys me. Love him though.
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I’ve missed this newsletter since it left—was just thinking nothing else has matched its tone (positive…but still realistic) and interesting components (the history, the art, the guest pieces, the dogs). Welcome back.
Glad this is back!! Another well thought out piece.