We live in a hot take society now when it comes to sports “analysis”. If one wants to get noticed, either there needs to be some kind of completely nonsensical take on a topic or that person has to have such bad wardrobe choices so as to draw attention to him/herself.
Or in the case of Cam Newton, both.
This week’s ride on the nonsense hot take carousel belongs to former Phillies catcher Erik Kratz, who had this to say about Nick Castellanos and the impending split between the player and organization.
For those that are not on social media and/or don’t feel like clicking on the link, here is what Kratz said in full (thanks to Tim Kelly for transcribing):
“…it’s not very nice to Nick. You also want to look up on Baseball Reference how many errors Nick has in the outfield. Zero. One of two guys that shows up in the playoffs for the Phillies in a year in and year out basis. It’s Nick Castellanos. Be careful everybody when you’re like, ‘I wanna run this guy out of town.’ Go watch him play.
“In my opinion, I think Philly fans still look at the batting average and when it’s on the board, they’re like, ‘Look at his batting average. This guy stinks. We gotta get Nick outta here.’ I don’t think you were saying that in the ’24 playoffs, when he was coming up clutch, clutch in the playoffs. The reality is when you play in a city and you speak your mind, everybody thinks you better be hitting .300, or you’re not a good player anymore because you opened your mouth. And that’s why I think, sometimes players don’t wanna say things. They don’t wanna buck the system. The reality is that the best teams have people that are willing to say things and step up, not just for your own selfish ambition, but for the betterment of the team. And I think Nick truly believed he should have been a guy that was out there every single day.”
Listen.
There is a slight insinuation here that the fanbase is the reason the team is leaning towards moving on from Castellanos, which would be a problem for two reasons. One would be that the team is letting fan opinion sway them in any kind of upper level decision making that is occurring. Two is that it is discounting the performance that Castellanos has done in the past few seasons.
The main part of these two points has to do with performance, something Castellanos has been lacking these past few seasons. While the beginning of his contract did have some useful times to it, they have been outweighed by the negatives that crept into his tenure with the team. In 2023, Castellanos was a very good hitter, putting up .272/.311/.476 line with 29 home runs and 106 RBI, his offensive game good for a……108 wRC+.
Eight percent better than league average.
Kratz, in his ramblings online, talks about Castellanos and his willingness to “say things and step up,” probably referring to his run in with Rob Thomson, yet conveniently glosses over the fact that no one, at least publicly, backed him in that instance. If he was referring his talking about, or lack of talking about, his dwindling playing time, he also conveniently forgets the fact that Castellanos has been declining at the plate and has been terrible in the field.
He’s been so bad, in fact, that the team has decided that signing Adolis Garcia, whose numbers were just as bad as Castellanos in 2025, mostly due to the fact that the defensive upgrade over the “defense” Castellanos provided the team was worth it.
There are qualities that Castellanos does possess. He posts every day, something that a former player like Kratz would look highly upon. Ask any former player and they’ll tell you that the guys who show every day and get into the lineup have value that cannot be quantified. But to think that that overrules actual production on the field is ludicrous. Castellanos had his name written in the lineup because he was doing just enough to warrant that kind of daily playing time, plus the team didn’t have many better options.
Another way to look at Kratz’s argument is how he frames it around the playoffs. Kratz talks about how well Castellanos was doing in the playoffs, how “clutch” he came up. Let’s look at that.
Outside of his series against the Braves in 2023 and how he played against the Mets in last season’s NLCS, I fail to see how the word “clutch” could be used when describing Castellanos’ play in the playoffs while a member of the Phillies. Those two series, yes, he was excellent and should receive such recognition. But in fairness to him, these are small sample sizes as well. Kratz should know better when it comes to recognizing these numbers.
Framing an argument for the team keeping Castellanos in the fold around playoff numbers that aren’t up to snuff is irresponsible. Kratz’s whole argument feels like he’s sticking up for a friend that is about to find himself in a less than desirable situation when compared to playing with a playoff contender. Nick Castellanos will be playing with a different team in 2026 and the Phillies will not miss him.
That’s it.
That’s the argument. Anything else is ludicrous.
