Castellanos feels 'healthy, strong' for 2021

Reds right fielder Nick Castellanos didn’t seem to need Spring Training to get comfortable in the batter’s box this year. Castellanos has looked and felt ready from the jump, which has been reflected in his production in camp.

Though Castellanos was hitless in his previous two games heading into Sunday, he was on a nine-game hitting streak in which he frequently scorched the ball. During those nine games, he hit .560 (14-for-25) with three home runs, one double, one triple and eight RBIs.

“Yeah, man, I’m ready to get this song and dance started,” Castellanos said. “You always feel good when you get results, but right now in spring, the main thing for me is to make sure my body feels good, I feel healthy, I feel strong and just getting ready for 162 games.”

Castellanos, 29, is in the second season of his four-year, $64 million contract he signed with Cincinnati as a free agent. During the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he batted .225/.298/.486 with 14 homers and a 99 OPS+.

Reds hitting coach Alan Zinter has noticed a difference in Castellanos this spring compared to last year.

“He’s got a big chip on his shoulder, to be honest,” Zinter said. “He wants to really be a good baseball player. He wants to get to the next tier of hitters. He’s really focused. He has done his work each day. A tremendous focus, and he goes out there and he competes. He pushed on the gas pedal a little earlier than normal and it doesn’t seem that he’s relying on what he has done in the past. He’s out to prove who he is and what he’s capable of doing.”

During the 2019 season with the Tigers and Cubs, Castellanos hit .289/.337/.525 with 27 home runs while leading the Major Leagues with 58 doubles. His overall OPS+ for the year was 123, but it was 154 in the two months following his July 31 trade from Detroit to Chicago.

That production was lacking in ’20, but Statcast data indicates Castellanos might have been a victim of misfortune. His 16 percent barrel rate was ranked ninth in the Major Leagues and his exit velocity average of 91 mph was a career high.

But Castellanos also had a .257 batting average on balls in play, which was a career low.

“Approach-wise, I think he’s commanding ABs better this spring than last, and hopefully that continues,” Zinter said. “He has just matured a little bit more as a hitter, and as he goes along this year, let’s hope that he’ll be able to command some ABs and have that hard hit right -- he obviously hit the ball really, really hard. But if he’s able to control some ABs, he can be even better.”

Castellanos also noted that he feels more comfortable around teammates than last year.

“I know names and faces and jobs and everything. Last year in spring, it can just be kind of fast when you’re in a new situation and everybody is new and the system is new and philosophies are new, names are new, where you park is new,” he said. “Just to get in a little bit more of a flow makes things more familiar.”