Spooky season is almost here, especially for three former All-Stars. Can they figure things out before their careers take a scary turn? WillLaws takes a look in the second annual SI MLB Pumpkin Watch
With a slash line of .265/.305/.397 and just 13 home runs, Castellanos is sporting a career-worst 96 OPS+ , meaning he’s been 4% worse than the league-average hitter. His average exit velocity, barrel rate and walk rate are also at career lows. The 30-year-old has taken his streaky tendencies to new lengths, as he’s had two homerless streaks that have lasted at least a month .
Castellanos’s struggles at the plate come in stark contrast to last year, his second season with the , when he made his first All-Star team and set career-best marks in batting average , on-base percentage and slugging percentage . Looking back, though, the Phillies should have paid more mind to his concerning home/road splits.
Still, the Phillies themselves have a hitter-friendly home field and could not have expected such a sharp downturn this soon. With Castellanos’s contract being what it is, they’ve really got no choice except to help him figure out a fix. Getting Harper’s elbow healthy enough to throw next season would help, that way Castellanos, even if his bat doesn’t return to an All-Star level, at least wouldn’t be providing negative value in the field.
Instead, the 31-year-old has been worse than ever, as his -0.9 fWAR ranks last among pitchers with at least 90 innings pitched. Toronto’s coaching staff apparently told him to junk his cutter, as its usage reduced from 35% in 2021 to 6% in ’22. That may have seemed like a reasonable route to take, as hitters teed off on it last season.
The Jays still have Kikuchi under contract for two more years, so they may try to alter his approach one more time over the winter rather than release him and eat $20 million of dead money . But he was already demoted to the bullpen last month, and has been even worse there, recording a 7.50 ERA despite racking up 23 strikeouts in 12 innings of relief work. Quite simply, if Kikuchi continues to serve up walks and home runs like they’re hotcakes, he won’t have much time left in the big leagues.
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