Nick Maton brings ‘infectious’ energy, but lately he’s delivering more for the Phillies

MIAMI — It wasn’t enough for Nick Maton to mention where he and a few teammates went to dinner on the Phillies’ off-day Monday. He talked about the restaurant with such gusto that those who didn’t attend couldn’t help but feeling a little bit like they missed out on the meal of their lives.

But that’s Maton. He’s excitable, to put it mildly. He bounces around the clubhouse like a human pogo stick. He howls, literally, at his teammates. It may be why they call him “Wolfie,” although the 25-year-old said the nickname goes back many years and has a long backstory.

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Indeed, Maton has always been this way. He was the same blend of energy and confidence from the time that he was the best player at a junior college in Springfield, Ill. No sense changing now just because he’s a minimum-salaried utility player on the Phillies’ $240 million roster.

“Especially in the environment that he’s in now, 162 games in six months, that’s a lot,” Lincoln Land Community College baseball coach Ron Riggle said by phone Wednesday. “To have somebody that does that, that brings energy every day, I think the intangibles that he brings to a team are immeasurable for what he does.”

Lately, Maton has brought the Phillies even more. He played right field in a game for the first time in his life on Sept. 3, one day after Nick Castellanos strained a muscle in his right side, and started four of the last eight games at the position. That includes Tuesday night, when he hit a two-run home run against Cy Young Award favorite Sandy Alcantara in a 2-1 victory over the Miami Marlins.

Maton actually homered in three of his last four games entering play Wednesday. Never mind that Alcantara caught him looking at a front-hip sinker for a called third strike in the third inning or got him to hit a tapper in front of the mound with the bases loaded in the fourth. He waited on another sinker in the seventh and became the only player to go deep twice against Alcantara this season.

“You always have to look fastball with him because he throws 100,” Maton said. “I was ready for it.”

Maton has been ready for everything. Just like left-hander Bailey Falter, a yo-yo between triple A and the majors who is 5-0 with a 2.43 ERA in his last five starts, four of which have come in place of injured ace Zack Wheeler. And just like Darick Hall, who hit nine home runs and slugged .550 in 37 games while Bryce Harper was out with a broken left thumb.

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Teams that make the playoffs get unexpected contributions from unlikely sources. The Phillies have more depth this season than at any point in the last 10 years. They also have gotten more from players in their farm system. Maton and Hall have been worth 0.8 and 0.6 wins more than an average replacement-level player, according to Baseball-Reference.com; Falter’s WAR is 0.9.

It makes a difference.

And now, as the Phillies close in on securing the postseason berth that has eluded them since 2011, it’s worth wondering if there are spots on the playoff roster for Maton and Falter, in particular, and even Hall, who got sent to triple A in late August and has remained there despite the expansion of rosters to 28 players.

Falter has been among the Phillies’ 13 best pitchers for the last month. It’s unclear how many pitchers the Phillies would carry for a best-of-three wild-card series. They also won’t know how the rotation shapes up until they lock up a playoff spot. If they clinch before the final series in Houston, they could set it up almost however they want.

Maton merits a spot, too, even though Castellanos is expected to return before the end of the season.

A longtime favorite of legendary Phillies shortstop Larry Bowa, Maton has added left field and right field to a portfolio of positions that includes everywhere on the infield. The Phillies don’t pinch hit much, especially with left-handed hitters. But interim manager Rob Thomson could use Maton as a left-handed bat off the bench or a late-inning defensive replacement for Castellanos.

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And then there’s his personality. Maton, who has a plush wolf in his locker, is an energy drink on a September night with 5,000 people in the ballpark in Miami. In the supercharged postseason, he might actually levitate.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Falter said. “It’s something else. He’s always motivated, brings the guys together, always that hyper guy. Especially around this time of year where everyone tends to get a little tired and stuff, we’ve got that guy to pick us up.”

Maton played shortstop and batted .408 with a 1.229 OPS in 2017 at Lincoln Land, a school with 5,800 students that has produced seven major leaguers, most notably former pitcher Jeff Fassero. But Riggle said it was the upbeat tone he set among his teammates that stood out.

“He’s been this way his whole life,” Riggle said. “He’s that type of person. It was on the field, it was off the field, it was everywhere. It’s infectious. You can’t help but feed off of the energy and the excitement that he brings. It just changes the mood of everybody that he’s around.”

Said Maton: “It just comes naturally. I like to hype up the boys, get them going, whether I’m on the bench or in the field.”

If he keeps delivering big hits, there will be an opportunity for Maton to keep it up in October.

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