5. Nicholas Castellanos
To this point in his career, Nicholas Castellanos hasn’t been the big bat of the future that the Tigers had hoped he might be. From 2013-2017 combined Castellanos was only worth 1.3 bWAR, a performance highlighted by a middling offensive output paired with pretty bad defense.
Luckily for Castellanos things changed for the better in 2018. He slashed .298/.354/.500 in 678 plate appearances over the season and showed flashes of the offensive prowess that made him such an attractive prospect in the first place.
His defense was still bad, but his bat made up for it and he was able to contribute to the team in ways he hadn’t in past years.
This jump in performance led some to think that Castellanos might be an offseason trade candidate, but nothing materialized on that front.
Now, heading into his contract year, Castellanos needs to show which version of him we can expect moving forward. Was 2018 a fluke? Or is he really on the path to contributing offensively in a way that makes him worth pursuing?
It will be interesting to see what areas Castellanos focuses on during the 2019 MLB season.
He’s a notoriously bad defensive outfielder, and one has to wonder if he should focus on improvements in the field or if he should just focus on hitting well enough to make up for defense. Even if Castellanos does improve his defensive ceiling in the outfield isn’t super high, so he might be better off showing he’s an offensive powerhouse.