J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos held back the Phillies’ lineup for two seasons, but shined in the opener
The right-handed sluggers had not helped the Phillies' cause in the regular season or postseason. But Realmuto crushed a two-run triple in the 10th inning Thursday.
WASHINGTON — Between Bryce Harper’s injuries, Rob Thomson’s bullpen mismanagement, the Great Leadoff Hitter Debate, and back-to-back playoff collapses, the two biggest issues concerning the Phillies have not gotten nearly the attention they deserve.
Their well-paid right-handed sluggers have been virtually invisible.
J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos took home $87.755 million in 2023 and 2024, combined. It was not good value for the Phillies; certainly, not the value the club thought it would get in Realmuto’s 10th and 11th seasons, or Castellanos’ 11th and 12th.
Both played significant roles in Thursday’s 7-3 win on opening day. It’s one step on their long road back to relevance.
Realmuto was a two-time All-Star in his first four seasons as a Phillie, when he was considered the best all-around catcher in baseball, with an OPS of .811. However, that OPS dipped to .757 in the last two seasons.
“I need to be more consistent,” Realmuto said. “The last two years has been too up and down. I’ll get into slumps and don’t get back to myself quickly enough.”
Realmuto said that, when he slumps, he’s been listening to too many voices and ignoring his own: “I’ve tried something I haven’t tried before instead of being true to myself.”
In the six seasons before he joined the Phillies, Castellanos compiled an OPS of .853, which ranked a healthy 17th among hitters who averaged at least 500 plate appearances per season, slightly better than Manny Machado. Since the Fab Four got together in 2022 — Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber joined Realmuto and Bryce Harper — Castellanos’ OPS has been .744, which ranked 68th among the 95 hitters who averaged at least 500 plate appearances. Since Trea Turner made it a Fab Five in 2023, Casty’s at .765.
It’s not as if they turn it on in October, either. Realmuto’s a .216 playoff hitter in three postseasons with the Phillies, and he went hitless last year Castellanos’ playoff OPS with the Phillies is .687.
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The Phillies ranked fifth in runs scored last season and eighth in 2023, and both are respectable numbers. But they had five hitters making at least $20 million in each of those seasons. For extended periods last season, Castellanos and Realmuto hit as low as seventh in the lineup.
That’s where Castellanos hit in Thursday’s opener at Washington. Realmuto hit fifth, but that was as much because of Schwarber batting fourth against Nationals left-handed starter MacKenzie Gore as it was to Realmuto’s promising .415 on-base percentage in spring training. Schwarber hits left-handed, and manager Rob Thomson likes to alternate. Schwarber will lead off in Game 2 on Saturday, which likely means newcomer Max Kepler will move from sixth to fifth.
Which means Realmuto will fall to sixth, left-handed hitter Bryson Stott likely will hit seventh, and the $20 million right fielder will bat eighth.
For now.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Thomson said pregame. “J.T. is looking really good, and Nick, at times, has looked good in spring training.”
Realmuto struck out in his first four at-bats Thursday, then crushed a two-run triple in the 10th inning — the sort of hit you love to let linger with an off day in the offing. The series resumes in Washington Saturday evening.
“That’s gonna help me sleep a lot better the next two nights,” Realmuto said.
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Thomson hates that he’s had to continually push his veteran stars further down the lineup — especially Castellanos, who was an All-Star after a hot start to 2023.
Castellanos is supposed to be the No. 3 or 4 hitter, but Alec Bohm’s knack for driving in runs has earned him that spot. Bohm drove in 97 last season and was an All-Star. Castellanos had 86 RBIs.
Thomson would love to trust Castellanos to hit fourth or fifth. Replacing Bohm would suit his pay grade. Replacing Realmuto would give the aging catcher more rest. With the Nats starting lefties Thursday and Sunday, Thomson hopes the matchups fuel an early-season surge from Castellanos.
“Typically, Nick is best suited against left-handed pitching,” Thomson said. “So hopefully he has some good at-bats here and we have some tougher [lineup] decisions to make.”
Castellanos’ OPS against lefties last year was .830, compared with .711 against righties.
When I asked him if he had any goals for 2025 — batting average, homers, OPS — Castellanos thought about it for a second.
“Don’t give away any at-bats,” Castellanos said. “That’s probably my goal.”
He didn’t Thursday. He fanned once, but his gritty, eight-pitch at-bat in the eighth inning helped score a run. He then worked a two-out, six-pitch walk to load the bases in the ninth.
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The Phillies were less efficient early.
Gore struck out 13 batters, the most on an opening day in the 56-year history of the Nationals, née Expos. He broke the record in just six innings.
And, of course, he did it against the Phillies. The team whose celebrated lineup spent the entire offseason focusing on how to strike out less struck out more than 55 other teams had.
It was an inauspicious, 19-strikeout debut for Thomson’s new platoon lineup, which features Turner, a right-handed hitter, leading off against left-handed starters and Schwarber leading off against righties. As you might have anticipated, Turner struck out to start the game.
Gore left after six innings and 93 pitches, 66 of them strikes, only one of them well-hit, and that by Schwarber, of all people.
He walked none. So much for working the count.
Harper, who’d contributed two strikeouts to the record, homered on the first pitch reliever Lucas Sims threw him in the seventh and tied the score at 1. One out later, Schwarber did the same to left-handed reliever Jose Ferrer for a 2-1 lead.
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That took Zack Wheeler off the hook, having given up a run on a homer in six innings. Dating to last season, it was the 12th straight outing in which Wheeler lasted at least six innings and surrendered two runs or fewer. That’s a new Phillies record, one he’d shared with the version of Cliff Lee that was a Phillie in 2011 and 2012. Wheeler was making his second consecutive opening day start for the Phillies. He remains the best pitcher in baseball since he signed with the Phillies before the 2020 season.
Harper remains the Phillies’ best hitter since Mike Schmidt. Schwarber remains the most fun Phillie to watch since Ryan Howard.
Realmuto? Castellanos? They’ve been largely coincidental.
Thursday might have started to change that.