Philadelphia Phillies: Nick Castellanos followed Kyle Schwarber’s lead

Another day, another new guy’s first home run: you know, I could get used to this, Philadelphia Phillies fans.

One day removed from Kyle Schwarber‘s opening day gift to a lucky fan on his first at-bat in Phillies pinstripes, Nick Castellanos, his fellow offseason acquisition, put first inning points of his own on the board with a two-run dinger to center field.

Yes, you read that correctly; the Phillies have now scored three runs in first innings alone and have proven that opposing teams have to deliver their best stuff right from the first pitch lest they fall behind before the second inning.

Now granted, the Oakland As aren’t exactly the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals, they have one of the league’s leanest payrolls and field a team without a ton of national star power, but goodness, if the Philadelphia Phillies can get this kind of offense night after night from a variety of different players, they are going to be a tough out against any heavy hitter the MLB has to offer.

The Philadelphia Phillies have a lineup built for scoring, folks.

In just two games, the Philadelphia Phillies have nine players who have at least one hit on the still-young 2022 MLB season. On opening day, every player but center fielder Matt Vierling got on base – though Vierling did record an RBI – and in Game 2, the team followed it up with four more hitters, including Alec Bohm, who connected on both of his at-bats before being pulled for Johan Camargo in the seventh inning.

That, my friends, is a very good sight to see.

Unlike in years past, where the Phillies really only had power in the middle of their order and struggled to produce from the bottom of their order, this year’s squad opens up games with Kyle Schwarber in the leadoff spot, plays J.T. Realmuto right behind him, and still places plus-offensive players like Bohm, Didi Gregorius, and, eventually, Mickey Moniak in the seven, eight, and nine spots. They can load up with power, weave in players with high on-base percentages to turn solo runs into two or even three-run swings, and still have enough offense to never give an opposing pitcher more than a batter or two of reprieve.

In a sport where a player only has to succeed three times out of ten to be considered a good performer, to paraphrase the great Ted Williams, having a variety of different options who can do just that makes a team very, very, very hard to cover indeed.

Will the Philadelphia Phillies eventually find themselves in a legitimate shootout or *gasp*  without a lead altogether? You bet; the MLB season is long, and eventually, an L or two – or 60-plus – are going to show up opposite the wins column, but if the Phillies can continue to get their batters on the bases in a variety of different ways, they’ll be able to hang with the best of them and prolong the optimism of a fresh season well into the dog days of summer.