Castellanos: Phillies could be 'a happy surprise'

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki's Phlllies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Nick Castellanos leaned back in the chair in front of his locker on Sunday morning at BayCare Ballpark.

He seemed happy.

“I mean, I feel good right now,” he said smiling, tapping his armrests a couple of times. “Like, in this chair, I feel good. If I had an at-bat today, I’d put my helmet on and smile and go in and give it the best shot I could.

“The cards fall where they fall.”

Castellanos, 32, got to camp this weekend, and, like always, he had interesting things to say. He overcame a terribly slow start in 2024 to bat .254 with 23 home runs, 86 RBIs and a .742 OPS. He started all 162 games, which he would like to do again, but “I really doubt I'm competing with Cal Ripken for the most all time, so I'm not going to be too stressed out about it whenever that day is.”

Despite his second-half bounceback – he batted .284 with 17 homers, 64 RBIs and an .833 OPS in his final 106 games – Castellanos’ name appeared in trade rumors for the second consecutive offseason. Castellanos, who is representing himself after ending his relationship with agent Scott Boras last year, contacted Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski about those reports.

“He told me that wasn’t true,” he said.

So Castellanos returns to a team that won the NL East for the first time since 2011 while winning 95 regular-season games, the second-most in baseball.

But the Phils also lost in four games to the Mets in the NL Division Series, a major disappointment to a squad that had World Series aspirations.

Castellanos said the early postseason exit doesn’t have him any more motivated than he has been in the past.

“I wouldn't say that 'we ended bad, we didn't win, so now I'm on a revenge tour to prove everybody wrong and give everybody the middle finger,'” he said. “That's not really my personality. Baseball is hard and the Mets were hot and they beat us. I know that I personally have put in work to put myself in position to be ready to play and compete. I'm excited for the opportunity. That's the only thing I can control.”

That said, Castellanos said he digested plenty of media in the days and weeks following the Phillies’ loss to the Mets.

He said he heard how the Phillies can’t win the World Series.

He said he heard how the organization didn’t do enough to improve in the offseason.

“I do think we have less pressure as a team this year, especially with everything the media said about us when we lost last year and we didn’t really go out and make any crazy changes,” Castellanos said. “So if we lose, you guys look smart, which is dope. Right? But then if we win, it’s like a happy surprise. So it’s kind of a freeing place to play baseball, know what I mean?”

So what gives him confidence this team can go deep into October?

“I don’t know if we’re going to go deep in October,” he said. “I don’t know any of that. All I know is we need to stay healthy, prepare in Spring Training and get ready for the season. That’s so far down the road.”

But does he think the team is good enough?

“Sure,” he said. “I think we have a chance. We have a good team.”

But Castellanos knows he doesn’t really know. Nobody does. He referenced former Indiana men’s basketball coach Bobby Knight, who once used a glass as a crystal ball to predict the future during a NCAA tournament press conference.

“I have no idea,” Castellanos said about the future.

Maybe he should’ve brought a crystal ball to camp.

“That would be great,” he said.