CLEARWATER, Fla. — If Nick Castellanos plays with an edge — and it really isn’t open to interpretation, no matter what the new Phillies slugger said in his spirited introductory news conference here this week — then it probably took root in a manager’s office 14 years ago.
Castellanos was a touted shortstop from Miami, one of the best high school players in the country. In 2008, he traveled to USA Baseball headquarters in Cary, N.C., to try out for the 16-and-under national team. Bryce Harper, fresh from his Sports Illustrated cover shoot, made that club. And Castellanos figured he was a shoo-in to make it, too, right up until the moment when he didn’t.
“I cut Nick in ‘08,” Garye LaFevers recalled by phone the other day. “He thought of himself as a shortstop. Well, he wasn’t a shortstop for us.”
LaFevers never regretted it. Not for a second. Castellanos didn’t forget it either. It drove him, not only to return to Cary a year later and win a spot on as talented an 18-and-under team as there’s ever been but also to reach the majors with the Detroit Tigers in 2013, average 27 home runs over the last four full seasons, and play in the All-Star Game last year.
Along the way, Castellanos, 30, developed an attitude. Maybe it was always there. But it’s unmistakable, from undoing the top buttons on his uniform to the gold chain dangling around his neck and the presence in the batter’s box that screams, “I own this space!” He even incited a benches-clearing brawl last season when he slid headfirst into home plate, then stood up and flexed over the opposing pitcher.
The Phillies signed Castellanos to a five-year, $100 million contract — a move that pushed their payroll over the luxury-tax threshold for the first time in club history — for his right-handed power in the middle of the order. He will make his Phillies spring training debut Sunday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla.
But they also wanted that attitude, that swagger, which was on display in one of the most direct, no-nonsense news conferences in recent Philadelphia sports history.
“The thing about Nick is he brings that fire that you need, that passion, that energy,” Harper said. “I think that’s one of the reasons why I really wanted him here. Because he’s going to fit that mold, and we need players like that. He’s a guy that, when he’s on your team, you really like him, and when you’re playing against him, you’re like, ‘Who is this guy? What’s he about?’ ”
Harper knew what Castellanos was all about in 2009. Everybody did. Stung by LaFevers’ rejection, Castellanos showed up for USA Baseball’s Tournament of Stars, a tryout event for the 18U national team, determined to hit his way on to the team.
The manager: none other than LaFevers, who recalled Castellanos’ shaking his hand and saying, “I’m very happy to be here. I’m excited to go to work.” But if Castellanos took a conciliatory approach to LaFevers’ face, he also made no secret that he had something to prove.
Garin Cecchini, the talkative son of a longtime Louisiana high school coach, struck up conversations with everybody. He met Castellanos at the Tournament of Stars and recalled it going like this:
Castellanos: “USA Baseball doesn’t like me, man.”
Cecchini: “Dude, I think they’re going to like you this time.”
“Because he hit, man,” Cecchini said. “Every ball was on the screws. I know he was a little bit agitated that he didn’t make the [16U] team because he knew he was good enough. But he definitely showed out on why he should’ve made the 18-and-under team. It was kind of like a good, competitive, healthy chip on his shoulder.”
It was a lesson, too. Cecchini describes Castellanos as “Miami-ish,” in that he’s outgoing and emotional. Those qualities have stayed with him. But he also learned that baseball is a matter of what he calls “survival.” It isn’t good enough to be talented. It helps to play with the confidence that you’re going to be successful, no matter what.
“I definitely didn’t take getting cut lightly,” Castellanos said Friday. “Getting cut [stinks], no doubt, but whatever happened from there, happened. I just knew I didn’t want that [stuff] to happen again.”
LaFevers could see that commitment. Castellanos had gotten bigger and stronger. He cut down what LaFevers called “the big, looping swing” that he demonstrated in 2008. He developed what agent Scott Boras calls a “scientific” approach to examining elements of his swing. But it was more than that.
“He changed his attitude about things,” LaFevers said. “He was still a very determined, hardworking, even cocky person. But to be honest, he matured and set his goal on making the team. He was willing to play anywhere and do anything we needed him to do.”
Castellanos survived the final cuts for the 2009 Pan Am junior world championships in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Team USA was loaded — and that was before Harper, Manny Machado, Castellanos, Kevin Gausman, and Robbie Ray signed free-agent contracts totaling $955 million. Jameson Taillon pitched for that team, too. Sean Coyle played third base before getting drafted by the Red Sox.
Harper, destined to be the first overall pick in the 2010 draft, was the biggest name and got hounded for autographs at the team hotel.
But Castellanos was the breakout star. He started all eight games, mostly as the designated hitter, batted behind Harper and Machado, and went 8 for 26 (.308) with five extra-base hits (four doubles, one homer) and eight RBIs. He reached base at a .472 clip and slugged .577.
And Team USA outscored its opponents 99-14, including a 6-1 victory over Cuba in the gold medal game.
“What set Nick apart was just the way he stayed through the ball, his approach at the plate,” Cecchini said. “He had such a high level of understanding of the batter’s box and the strike zone and what he could do and what he was good at. He had sneaky power at that age, tons of [opposite-field] power. It was like, ‘Man, that ball jumped off the bat.’
“You obviously had superstars, and Nick was one of them. There’s no doubt. You had your Machados, your Harpers, your Gausmans, Taillons, and Castellanoses. I would put them all in the same category. They were just a level above with what they brought to the table.”
A year later, as the Tigers prepared for the draft, scouting director David Chadd mentioned Castellanos to Dave Dombrowski, then Detroit’s president of baseball operations.
“He says, ‘I know everyone’s talking about Machado, but this guy can hit with anybody,’” Dombrowski said. “He always loved to play the game, always played hard, could hit, and always had a determination to him.”
It’s hard to imagine it abating. Not when there’s more for him to achieve. In 2009, it was proving LaFevers wrong. In 2022, it’s winning something for the first time since that gold medal in Venezuela.
“I’ve played over 1,000 big league games, and I have zero playoff wins,” Castellanos said. “So, cool. I’ve made money, I’ve hit homers, I’ve played on TV, but I haven’t won no games that matter. I would like to do that.”
