MIAMI — Amid season-long defensive struggles, being lifted from right field in the eighth on Monday and a benching on Tuesday, Nick Castellanos came to Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, with a request.
“I told Dave to start giving me a packet with all my numbers, so I can understand it,” Castellanos said. “That way I can know how to be competitive with it.”
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The advanced metrics agree: Castellanos is among MLB’s worst outfielders. He ranks last in the league with minus-8 outs above average. He is worst in the league with minus-10 Defensive Runs Saved.
Defensive concerns prompted Phillies manager Rob Thomson to lift Castellanos against the Miami Marlins on Monday, bringing in Johan Rojas — whom Thomson called an “elite defender.”
Castellanos, unhappy with the decision, said he “spoke his mind” to Thomson, who told the right fielder that he’d crossed a line. Thomson benched Castellanos on Tuesday for the comment, ending his streak of 236 straight starts — the second-longest active streak in MLB and the longest Phillies streak since Pete Rose.
Thomson, before Wednesday’s game, said he felt the situation with Castellanos was “gone.” Castellanos said Thursday that he also felt it was behind him.
“We’re two grown men that show up every day for work with a common goal of winning a World Series,” Castellanos said. “If everybody just agrees on everything and doesn’t speak their mind, there’s not going to be passion. Emotions drive people, especially passionate people. To think that there’s going to be eight months of consistently being together and not butting heads at all — it probably doesn’t happen, right?”
Thomson said removing Castellanos once more could be on the table going forward. Would Castellanos understand if it happened again?
“Yeah,” he said. “It’s not my decision.”
Castellanos, 33, was granted a day at DH last weekend to keep him in the lineup but get him off his feet. It also kept his starting streak alive. Now that it’s over, Castellanos said he is not more inclined to take a day off. “I’ve always been open to taking a full day off if I needed it,” he said.
The only change to Castellanos’ routine, perhaps, is trying to better understand defensive metrics. Starting Sunday, Dombrowski said the Phillies will present Castellanos with metrics at the end of each trip — “all the types of defensive metrics that we look at all the time.”
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Castellanos, however, isn’t interested in evaluating his play.
“I don’t know,” Castellanos said. “It’s not for me. I just go out there and play. It’s for everybody else.”
Nick Castellanos makes the catch at the wall to seal the @Phillies win! pic.twitter.com/FSUHimpzns
— MLB (@MLB) June 19, 2025
Defense remains a concern. But Castellanos’ return to right field Wednesday might have saved the Phillies’ win. He hunted down a fly ball that, off the bat, looked like it could have been out of the park. It would have been a walk-off for the Marlins, who had two runners on and were down two runs.
Castellanos made the catch near the wall, lifted his shirt in celebration and joined the handshake line as the Phillies won 4-2.
“It’s an amazing game, isn’t it?” Thomson said. “I’m so happy for him.”
(Top photo: Jared Lennon / Getty Images)
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