After Benching For Making ‘Inappropriate Comment,’ Nick Castellanos Makes Game-Ending Play

For the first time since September 30, 2023, Nick Castellanos is not in the Philadelphia Phillies lineup on Tuesday, but it’s not because he’s injured or being given a day off. Castellanos is not in the lineup after making an “inappropriate comment” when he was pulled from Monday’s game, manager Rob Thomson said.

“I wasn’t happy about (being removed from Monday’s game), spoke my mind,” Castellanos said about being held out of Tuesday’s lineup. “He said that I crossed a line. So my punishment is I’m not playing.”

Castellanos was replaced by Johan Rojas to start the bottom of the eighth inning Monday. He flew out to center field to lead off the top of the eighth, though it was a routine fly ball he ran out. It’s unclear what triggered the “inappropriate comment,” but removing Castellanos for defense in the late innings of a close game would not be unwarranted, even though Thomson does not do it often.

Sitting out Tuesday’s game ends Castellanos’ consecutive starts streak at 236 games. A modest record, to be sure, through it qualifies as an iron man streak in this era of load management. Castellanos has missed only three games over the last three seasons. His 391 games played from 2023-25 are the third most in baseball behind Matt Olson and Marcus Semien.

The Phillies beat the Miami Marlins 5-2 at loanDepot Park on Monday, putting their record at 43-29, two games behind the first-place New York Mets in the NL East.

On Wednesday, Castellanos was back, making a game-ending play.