Nick Castellanos is out of the Phillies' lineup Tuesday for the first time since September of 2023 and there is a reason for it.
Castellanos was benched by manager Rob Thomson for making an "inappropriate comment" after being pulled for defensive replacement Johan Rojas in the eighth inning of Monday's 5-2 win in Miami.
"One of the many things about Nick that I love is that he's very emotional," Thomson told reporters. "He loves to play and he loves to play every inning of every game. I just thought last night, he made an inappropriate comment after he came out. And so today he's not in the lineup and I'm gonna leave it at that."
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SIGN UP HERE This is a delicate situation. Castellanos, a South Florida native who has talked about feeling most comfortable in Miami, hadn't just started 236 consecutive games, he's barely left any of them early. The Phillies, even when there have been opportunities to do so, have been hesitant to pull him defensively, likely for confidence reasons. He is a hard worker in right field and has improved but still has limitations and has never been regarded as an above-average defender.
Last season, when he played all 162 games, there were only two instances all season when Castellanos exited a non-blowout before it was finished: July 30 against the Yankees in extra innings for a pinch-runner, and Game 162 when the Phillies pulled their regulars early.
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It's not as if this is a common occurrence. Thomson has been careful to pick his spots with the idea of keeping Castellanos as confident and engaged as possible defensively, often weighing that over the defensive upgrade of Rojas in the later innings. That may have been a part of this ordeal, as well.
"I wasn't happy about it, spoke my mind," Castellanos told Lochlann March of The Inquirer. "He said that I crossed a line. So my punishment is I'm not playing."
Max Kepler started in right field Tuesday for the first time as a Phillie with Johan Rojas in center and Brandon Marsh in left.