Diamondbacks reportedly interested in free agent OF Nicholas Castellanos
Dec 4, 2019, 2:47 PM
Nicholas Castellanos #6 of the Chicago Cubs celebrates as he runs the bases after hitting a three run home run in the 5th inning against the Seattle Mariners at Wrigley Field on September 03, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
The Arizona Diamondbacks are interested in free agent outfielder Nicholas Castellanos, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported on Wednesday.
John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station said Wednesday that because Castellanos is a client of agent Scott Boras, the belief is that he could be too costly.
The D-backs will be in the market for an outfielder after non-tendering Steven Souza Jr. and seeing both Adam Jones and Jarrod Dyson enter free agency. David Peralta, Tim Locastro and Ketel Marte — the last of whom is also a second baseman and could slot in there — remain on the team.
Castellanos, 27, is a former Detroit Tigers slugger who most recently played with the Chicago Cubs for the latter half of the 2019 season. Between those two teams last year, Castellanos hit a combined .289 with 27 home runs and 73 RBIs. His .863 OPS was impressive on its own, but he put up an OPS of 1.002 in the last 51 games after going over to Chicago.
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His 58 doubles last year led the entire major leagues.
For his career, Castellanos has hit 20 or more home runs in each of the last three seasons and had 101 RBIs in 2017 — the only triple-digit RBI season of his career thus far. He also hits for average, batting a .298 clip in 2018.
Castellanos has played more games at third base in his career than outfield, but he hasn’t played a single inning at third base since 2017. Additionally, the D-backs already have other options at the hot corner in Eduardo Escobar and Jake Lamb.
