A Farewell Walk Off by Nick Castellanos

It's been a long season for Tigers fans, especially when the team plays at home, but on Sunday afternoon at Comerica Park Nicholas Castellanos hit his first career Walk-Off HR, as the Detroiters beat the Blue Jay's, 4-3.

🐯 I'm very much in the minority when it comes to Castellanos... I'm a huge fan, and wish he'd play his entire career in Motown, but it's quite obvious that isn't going to happen.

             

🐯⚾️ This is my favorite Nicholas Castellanos baseball card. ⚾️🐯

Of all his base Topps cards, #268 in the 2015 Heritage set is my favorite card of Nick.

2015 Heritage used the 1966 Topps Set design, which, in addition to Nick in that beautiful Tigers home uniform and Olde English D ballcap, we get that cool Topps Rookie Cup prominently displayed in the lower left hand corner.

📰 It sounds as is Castellanos is headed to play for either the Dodgers, or Cubs (based on what I see on Twitter), after the trade deadline ( I've also heard Astros and Braves)...but the Cubbies and Dodgers seem to be heating up in talks.


🐯 Nick's 10th inning HR to win the game was one last shining moment in a Tigers uniform for a terrific ballplayer who deserved better from the Tigers front office and my fellow fans.


📌 At the top of the anti- Castellanos list are all the knuckleheads who subscribe to analytics as the be-all to end all when it comes to baseball stats.... who think the 27 year old right fielder should be Al Kaline defensively.


They mock is play defensively because of the ridiculous analytics numbers, and totally disregard his offensive numbers because of dumb stats like Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating.

While I know these numbers are important to the younger fans, the bottom line is that 2 defensive stats should NOT outweigh all of his offensive stats.


👉 All Castellanos has done since making his big league debut in September of 2013 is play his backside off while the Tigers kept moving him around, changing his natural position of shortstop in high school into being the teams next third baseman, and then moving him to the outfield, then back to 3rd Base, and then back to the outfield.


👉 In his 7 years, in over 829 career games, Castellanos has collected 855 hits, with 103 HRs, and 422 RBI.

Nick has a career. 275 batting average, a .467 slugging percentage, and, for you new age numbers fans, he has a OPS of .807.


I was talking to my friends Dennis and Paul this week, I touted Castellanos for his league leading 33 doubles, and, according to Tigers radio play by plan man Dan Dickerson, Nick is on pace for a whopping 58 two-baggers, a number that would put him in rarefied air in MLB History. 

The single season record for doubles by a big league ballplayer is 67, by a man named Earl Webb, of the 1931 Boston Red Sox.

Think about that... 1931... 88 years ago...and that record still stands.

The closest anyone in recent big league play has gotten to 67 doubles was in 2000, when Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies smacked 59.

In Tigers history, only Hall of Famers Hank Greenberg (63 in 1934), and Charlie Gehringer (60 in 1936), have passed the 60 doubles threshold.

As for career doubles, Castellanos has 204 doubles... the big league record is held by HOFer Tris Speaker, who collected 792 doubles in his 22 year career.

✔ Albert Pujols, in his 19th year, is the active carer leader, with 653 doubles.

 

👉 So, at age 27, Nicholas Castellanos is well on his way to quite the big league baseball career, and, like J.D. Martinez, who fans also didn't want playing in Detroit, Nick is headed for greener pastures, possibly following J.D. as a World Series Champion.


Thanks Nick... thanks for wearing that Olde English D with pride and passion!


PLAY BALL! 🐯⚾️🇺🇸