No. 5: Nick Castellanos
Nick Castellanos joined the Phillies during the 2021-22 offseason when he signed a five-year, $100 million deal with the ballclub just a couple weeks before Opening Day in 2022.
Castellanos was coming off a career year with the Cincinnati Reds in 2021, in which he hit .309 with a .939 OPS, 34 home runs, and 100 RBI. In doing so, he became an All-Star for the first time in his career, along with pocketing a Silver Slugger award for his stellar offensive performance.
With Schwarber, Castellanos helped reshape the Phillies’ outfield as they were stacked with two power producers who could easily put up over 60 home runs and 200 RBI combined per season. However, similar to Schwarber, Castellanos’ main flaw in his game is being prone to the strikeout, along with his questionable defense.
In the past two seasons with the ballclub, he has totaled 315 strikeouts in 293 games played, along with -17 DRS in 171 games of action in the outfield. On the good side, at least he could hit for average, as opposed to Schwarber, posting a .268 mark in his two years of service so far with the Phillies.
Castellanos has also been quite a streaky hitter throughout his career. This was particularly evident during the Phillies last two postseason runs in 2022 and 2023. He was the team hero in the NLDS in both seasons, with six runs scored, four home runs and nine RBI in eight combined games.
At the same time, he went ice cold at the worst possible times, as he was a combined 4-for-48 with 21 strikeouts in 13 combined games in the deciding series of both 2022 and 2023. If he could provide more consistency, his value with the Phillies would be a lot higher. But for now, he remains a hit-and-miss player.