Detroit Tigers Roster Preview: Nick Castellanos

Feb 28, 2015; Lakeland, FL, USA; Detroit Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos (9) poses during Photo day at Joker Merchant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Quick hits
Name: Nick Castellanos
Age: 23
Position: Infielder
Salary: $500,000
Height: 6′ 4″
Twitter handle: n/a
How the Detroit Tigers got him: 44th pick in the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft by the Detroit Tigers

2014 season recap

In the 2014 season Nick Castellanos was a young age of 22 for the Detroit Tigers and was headed into his first full season as a starter at third base now that Prince Fielder had been traded and Miguel Cabrera was headed back across the diamond to first base.

Detroit Tigers /

Detroit Tigers

Castellanos played in 148 games last season and registered a .259 batting average knocking in 66 RBI, 31 doubles, four triples and 11 home runs on 138 hits. Not a great breakout season, he finished 8^th in Rookie of the Year voting. Yet he seemed to be pretty productive from time to time for a rookie.

2015 Season Potential

This season Nick has the chance to break out and be a constant productive player for the Tigers. This will be his sophomore season and this can be the year that he really blooms and makes a name for himself in the big show.

His average will more than likely go up 20-30 points, he still won’t hit .300 yet but he will get close. His home runs will also go up, more than likely 20 home runs this season. If anything his on base percentage needs to go up as well and I see that going up. He had a .306 OBP last season, but having more at bats under his belt will help him out.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Weaknesses

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Castellanos has to be better on defense. Last season Nick was ranked as the worst defensive third baseman in MLB. Castellanos had a -30 defensive runs in 145 games last season and that is not a pretty number at all. He also committed 15 errors and had only a .950 fielding percentage which is one error about every 20 times the ball is hit to him.

This can hurt the team if hitters start to realize that he isn’t the best fielder and could cost us even more runs. Before players started to report to spring training Castellanos said he spent time working on his fielding with Matt Martin. He said the two worked on his footwork, mainly, his first step to the ball which as a fielder is a very important step.

"“He’s a very good defensive teacher.”"

It will be interesting to see if the off-season work helped Castellanos with his abilities over at third base. Watching him this spring will be a semi-good indication if he has gotten any better.

Strengths

He is still very young and still has to grow into the player he is supposed to be. Also, he hasn’t had really any injury throughout his time playing for the Detroit Tigers. He is tall and can make some great catches in the air at third.