MIAMI -- Nick Castellanos missed his first start since September 2023 on Tuesday, when he was held out of the starting lineup in the Phils' 8-3 loss following “inappropriate” comments the right fielder made toward manager Rob Thomson the prior night, when Castellanos was replaced defensively in the eighth inning of the Phillies' 5-2 win over the Marlins on Monday.
The benching ended Castellanos' consecutive games started streak (236), which was the second-longest active streak in MLB behind the Braves' Matt Olson (405). It was the longest Phillies streak since Pete Rose made 350 straight starts from 1980-83.
Castellanos also ranked third in consecutive games played (236), behind Olson (691) and the Mets' Pete Alonso (327) -- another streak that was broken as Castellanos did not enter the game in any capacity.
“I wasn’t happy about it,” Castellanos told The Athletic and the Philadelphia Inquirer pregame on Tuesday about the in-game substitution. "Spoke my mind. He said I crossed a line. So my punishment is I’m not playing.”
“It’s his decision,” Castellanos said. “He’s the manager.”
According to Thomson, the substitution was not about Castellanos, but rather about the score (3-1 to start the inning, in which Miami plated a run) and maximizing Philly's defense. Thomson said after Monday's game that the move was made to insert Johan Rojas -- who typically only starts in center field against left-handed pitchers -- because the speedy outfielder has not been getting much playing time otherwise with the Phillies in the middle of a stretch of facing predominantly right-handed pitchers.
Castellanos consistently grades as a low-tier outfielder. His minus-10 defensive runs saved ranks the third-worst in MLB, while his plus/minus runs saved above average is minus-seven.
“I talked to Nick about it the other day,” Thomson said postgame Monday. “Just moving for -- because we have this run of right-handed pitching, and you got Rojas sitting on the bench. He’s really an elite defender, so you might as well use him.”
The pair have discussed Thomson’s decision, and come to an understanding about it.
“One of the things that I love about Nick is that he’s very emotional,” Thomson said. “He’s very emotional. He loves to play, and he loves to play every inning of every game.”