Nick Castellanos showed what he means to the Reds with a walk-off homer on Saturday

After Cincinnati Reds right fielder Nick Castellanos hit a walk-off homer in a win on Saturday over the Washington Nationals, he mentioned Joe Morgan and Pete Rose and the Big Red Machine. He mentioned. Eric Davis and Barry Larkin and the Nasty Boys.

At the start of 2020, when Castellanos signed with the Reds because he saw the best opportunity to play for a competitive team, he said he didn’t know about the great Reds teams of the 1970s or the wire-to-wire team two decades later. 

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Then, when he kept seeing the highlights on the scoreboard and heard from fans about what those players meant to them, Castellanos realized that these weren’t just old-timers from his new organization.

They were players he could relate to. Following Castellanos’ homer in a 7-6 Reds win, he summed up a city with a 152-year-old baseball franchise.

 “Real Cincinnati fans have a chip on their shoulder,” he said.

When the Reds played a full season without fans in the crowd last season, Castellanos said he never got the chance to experience Cincinnati. Heading into Opening Day this season, he said he didn’t know what to expect.

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It only took him two games to introduce himself when he stole home against the St. Louis Cardinals and flexed over the pitcher. He earned a two-game suspension, but he also earned a two-story banner capturing that moment on the side of Great American Ball Park.

Later that week, Castellanos went out for dinner at a local restaurant. The screensaver on his waiter’s phone was Castellanos flexing over the Cardinals.

According to Castellanos, many of the Reds greats played hard, took everything personally and “weren’t necessarily gentlemen.” Castellanos could relate to that.

“I don’t know if it’s just because we’re a small market or overlooked or we always end up on the butt end of every decision Major League Baseball makes,” Castellanos said. “It’s cool to take on the Cincinnati versus everybody mentality. I think that if you really embrace that, you can tap into what Pete Rose did and Eric Davis did and Barry Larkin did and the Bad Boys bullpen back in the 90s.”

There’s more to Castellanos’ relationship with the Reds fan base, which he said has continued to grow throughout the season.

Following the All-Star Game, the most popular shirt at Great American Ball Park wasn’t Castellanos’ jersey. It was a white t-shirt that Nick’s son, Liam, designed. On the shirt, Liam drew a photo of his dad in a Reds uniform. 

Nick said that Liam chose to donate the proceeds to ​​The Dragonfly Foundation, which helps pediatric cancer and bone marrow transplant patients and their families.

As Nick connected more with the city in 2021, he tried to absorb “everything that is Reds baseball.”

“The longer you’re in the environment, the more you can feel it,” Castellanos said. “The more you can recognize what was, because you get to see the highlight films that they play over again. You listen to the fans talk about their favorite stories. You listen.”

Castellanos backed that up on the field, and he ranks eighth in MLB with a .310 batting average and a .930 OPS. Castellanos also had moments like the go-ahead homer against the Milwaukee Brewers and the go-ahead grand slam against the Philadelphia Phillies.

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Since 1970, only three Reds players have had a season with a better OPS, a higher batting average and more homers than Castellanos: Tony Perez, George Foster, and Joey Votto.

“Cincinnati recognizes talented players,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Guys that compete and play hard and play to win. And it's pretty obvious, Nick doesn't talk a lot about that, but just watching him play, it's pretty obvious how he plays the game. He definitely plays it with passion.”

His latest highlight moment in a career year came on Saturday night in a 7-6 Reds win. Castellanos was trying to homer in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth inning. When he did it, Votto threw his hands in the air. Eugenio Suárez leapt out of the dugout, shouted and smiled. 

Castellanos looked around the stadium as he rounded the bases. Then he waved to the crowd as he crossed home plate, and then the mosh pile started. Jonathan India, the rookie second baseman who has learned from Castellanos all season, broke through to give Castellanos a hug.

Castellanos is in the second year of a four-year deal, but he has an opt-out at the end of this season. He hasn’t addressed his plan for the future, but it’s possible that he’s in the middle of his last homestand in a Reds uniform.

On Saturday, Castellanos had one more moment in 2021 in front of the home crowd that’s adopted him over the course of the season.

“I knew nothing about Cincinnati baseball until I became a Red,” Castellanos said. “You just watch highlights of the way they played and the passion they took in the game. I think that’s what I love the most about being a Red.”