Nick Castellanos
It sure wasn’t too long ago when outfielder Nick Castellanos was the talk of the town. After all, he endured what turned out to be a horrendous start to the 2024 season. In his first 35 games, Castellanos batted a dreadful .185 with a .489 OPS, along with just three extra-base hits (one triple and two home runs) and 10 RBI while striking out 37 times in 130 at-bats.
However, that start is a thing of the past as Castellanos has since managed to drastically turn his season completely around. Since then, he has posted a .268 batting average, .798 OPS, along with 52 runs scored, 27 doubles, two triples, 17 home runs and 67 RBI over his next 103 games before Wednesday's game in Toronto. In doing so, Castellanos has become one of the main driving forces behind the Phillies’ offense in recent months, showing exactly why he's a former two-time All-Star and Silver Slugger winner.
With some of his usually-dependable teammates enduring some struggles of their own in recent weeks, namely superstars Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, the Phillies will look to the revitalized Castellanos to significantly help carry the team in the final month of the season.
Just in case there was ever any doubt, he did exactly that already on Sept. 1, coming through with a clutch two-strike, two-out single in the bottom of the 11th inning to help the Phillies get past their arch-rivals, the Atlanta Braves, with a dramatic 3-2 walk-off win.