After the best statistical season of his career, Nick Castellanos got noticed Thursday night with his first career Silver Slugger Award.
Castellanos, who hit .309 in 2021 with 34 home runs and 100 runs batted in, is the first Cincinnati Reds player to win a Silver Slugger since Jay Bruce in 2013.
"It definitely is gratifying," Castellanos told reporters Thursday night over Zoom from his son Liam's baseball game. "Any time that you're recognized for accomplishing something, it feels good. Also, now I just want to do it again."
Castellanos opted out of the final two years of his contract last week and he'll reject the Reds qualifying offer, according to The Enquirer's Bobby Nightengale, making Castellanos one of the top free agents on the market.
When asked Thursday, Castellanos said he can't speculate on what the immediate future will bring in free agency.
"I can't answer that. I don't know," he said. "To speculate, I feel is a waste of time. The only thing I could say is we'll see how it plays out."
When asked if he would entertain an offer from the Reds, Castellanos said, "Of course I would. Why wouldn't I? I feel like there's still a lot of valuable pieces that are very good to win with. Jonathan India … Jesse Winker is coming into his own, figuring out who he is, figuring out what kind of father he wants to be, he's doing a great job at that. Joey Votto just reinvented himself. We still have pitching. We have pieces. Why wouldn't I entertain it?"
The 29-year-old outfielder was guaranteed $34 million over the next two seasons with the Reds when he opted out, but he could command a contract above $20 million per year on the free-agent market.
'Dinner on me… the entire year':Jeff Ruby tries to persuade Nick Castellanos to stay with Reds
Reds GM Nick Krall on trade talks:'No shortage of interest in a lot of different things'
'We've got problems':Agent Scott Boras says MLB's structure is incentivizing tanking
"The most important thing I would say is just the relationship I have and the understanding I have of the organization, of the direction that they want to go in," Castellanos said when asked if it's important to play for a contender. "What direction are you going in? Who's a part of your vision? How do you see them as pieces in your vision? How can I assist in growing and aiding said pieces to be better than they are now? How can I make them better in the future? You know, relationships, if you're paying attention you can definitely get a sense of who aligns with you, the way you think, the way you want to go about your game, the way you take the game. You just begin to understand who kind of aligns with that and who doesn't."
Asked how the Reds fit into that, Castellanos said, "I really value the relationships that I have with the staff and the organization so I feel like to really go and speak on any of my opinions would be inappropriate really. If it ever came to a time where one on one away from media and all this stuff, ask me my opinion, I'd be happy to be honest. But I don't think the media is the place for that."
Joey Votto, Jonathan India and Jesse Winker were also Silver Slugger finalists. Castellanos had high praise for all three.
Votto has never won a Silver Slugger.
"I think that's kind of just like the same circumstance as it took like Leonardo DiCaprio 25 years to win an Oscar or Grammy -- whatever it is that movie actors win," said Castellanos. "Joey Votto is so deserving of a Silver Slugger and so many more, probably in his prime Albert Pujols was part of the division for a while has something to do with it, but Albert Pujols is a surefire Hall of Famer, so if you're handing Silver Sluggers over to anybody, he's a good guy to do it to.
"(Votto) was just deserving as winning a Silver Slugger as I was. His year, at 37 years old, is, you know, excuse my language, but (expletive) incredible."
As for India, Castellanos said, "The Reds better shape up and extend this man very quickly, or he's going to become too expensive. Jonathan India is a very, very good baseball player and he's going to get better. He has an amazing understanding of who he is, he has an amazing understanding of what he wants and he's patient to figure out how to accomplish it. So those are all very, very good recipes, especially somebody as young as Jonathan India."
The Reds haven't had multiple players win the award in the same season since 1989 when Eric Davis and Barry Larkin won.
The Silver Slugger started in 1980, making this the 42nd consecutive season for the award. Winners are decided by a vote of MLB managers and coaches who select the players they determine to be the best offensive producers at each position in the American and National Leagues.
Each team receives four votes: the manager and three coaches of their choice. Votes are based on a combination of offensive statistics including OBP, OPS, OPS+, home runs, hits, RBI, batting average as well as the managers’ and coaches’ general impressions of a player’s overall offensive value.
Source link
