It certainly wasn’t the sole reason behind it, but you can certainly make a pretty solid case that the work Nick Castellanos did in limited action for the Chicago Cubs back in 2019 did a lot of the heavy lifting for his current contract with the Cincinnati Reds. He simply mashed in his half-season there before reaching free agency, and the Reds scooped him up in hopes he’d continue to return the favor in the NL Central for years down the road.
Today, he did just that, mashing a pair of dingers against the Cubs in a see-saw roller coaster of a game.