Padres' Nick Castellanos gamble already worth it after 1 swing vs. Cardinals

Things were looking pretty grim with Nick Castellanos. It took him a full month to finally hit his first home run with the Padres, but his OPS still remained in the .400s for way too long. Alongside his early lack of power, Friars fans were waiting for the other shoe to drop with the veteran. Castellanos struck some fear in the fanbase, unsure of whether he'd be a good teammate or leader.

But all of that fear and uncertainty have gone away after one swing of the bat. With two outs and two strikes on Castellanos in the ninth inning on Sunday, Castellanos crushed a game-tying two-run home run. That kind of clutch hitting is exactly what the fans were waiting on. San Diego went on to win the game in extra innings, keeping pace with the Dodgers for first place in the NL West standings.

Castellanos got his seal of approval.

Nick Castellanos finally got his first big Padres moment with game-tying home run vs. Cardinals

It was a nine-pitch at-bat, including four foul balls, against Riley O'Brien before Castellanos connected on a tough sinker that ran in on his hands at 98.5 MPH. That kind of swing proved that Castellanos has still got it.

The 34-year-old is starting to come around at the plate overall. He is batting 5-for-his-last-14 (.357) with two extra-base hits. He was a .153 hitter before this stretch and has elevated his average to .192. That's a pretty good starting point.

While we're on the topic of starting points, Castellanos used Fernando Tatis Jr.'s bat on Sunday. That would be the first home run hit with that bat in 2026. Maybe Castellanos put some of that magic back into Tatis Jr.'s bat, who is still without a home run this season. We know that Tatis Jr. will get back on track, but maybe all he needed was someone else to wake up his own bat. With Castellanos proving he can still be clutch, we'll call it a win-win if Tatis Jr. goes deep this week.

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