CLEARWATER, Fla. — If Nick Castellanos plays with an edge — and it really isn’t open to interpretation, no matter what the new Phillies slugger said in his spirited introductory news conference here this week — then it probably took root in a manager’s office 14 years ago.
Castellanos was a touted shortstop from Miami, one of the best high school players in the country. In 2008, he traveled to USA Baseball headquarters in Cary, N.C., to try out for the 16-and-under national team. Bryce Harper, fresh from his Sports Illustrated cover shoot, made that club. And Castellanos figured he was a shoo-in to make it, too, right up until the moment when he didn’t.
“I cut Nick in ‘08,” Garye LaFevers recalled by phone the other day. “He thought of himself as a shortstop. Well, he wasn’t a shortstop for us.”
