Baseball players are continually instructed to “shorten up” their swing, “protect the plate,” and go for “anything close” when they fall down in the count 0-2. This instruction starts as early as Little League.
Nick Castellanos, the right fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, hit two crucial hits during the team’s 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on “Sunday Night Baseball” that would have made his parents proud.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, on a 0-2 count, the two-time All-Star crushed a two-run double to tie the score.
With four walk-off hits this season, Castellanos has been a fixture in Philadelphia’s big moments. The 2010 first-round selection is only the fourth Phillies player since 1920 to record four walk-off hits in a single season, according to John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The Athletic’s Jayson Stark highlighted how significant Castellanos’ 0–2 knocks were.
