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Phillies' Nick Castellanos reveals ‘punishment’ after getting benched vs Marlins
Nick Castellanos is a two-time MLB All-Star and is known for his hard-hitting abilities, having smoked 240 home runs in his career
The Philadelphia Phillies manager, Rob Thomson, has benched star outfielder Nick Castellanos from Tuesday's game against the Miami Marlins.
Castellanos is a two-time MLB All-Star and is known for his hard-hitting abilities, having smoked 240 home runs in his career. He won't be playing against the Marlins on Tuesday, though, and the outfielder himself revealed the reason for his benching.
Why have the Philadelphia Phillies removed Nick Castellanos from Tuesday's game vs the Miami Marlins?
The Philadelphia Phillies manager, Rob Thomson, removed Nick Castellanos from Tuesday's game against the Miami Marlins for making an inappropriate comment after being replaced during Monday's clash with the same team.
Castellanos told reporters that he was unhappy with being pulled from the game, then spoke his mind. Thomson told the 33-year-old that he had crossed a line.
"So my punishment is I'm not playing," Castellanos said, according to Lochlahn March of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The outfielder added that it was Thomson’s decision to bench him.
“It's his decision. He is the manager,” he added.
Castellanos was removed from Monday's game in favour of Johan Rojas in the eighth inning against the Miami Marlins. The Phillies won the game anyway with a 5-2 scoreline.
This season, Castellanos has a .278 batting average and .746 OPS. This is the first game that he would miss in the current season, having played in all of the Phillies’ 72 games so far.
Sitting out Tuesday's game ends Castellanos' consecutive starts streak at 236 games. He 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.
Nick Castellanos is in the fourth year of a five-year contract worth $100 million that he signed with the Phillies in March 2022. He has largely lived up to his billing as a bat-first corner outfielder, averaging 22 home runs and 85 RBIs per season from 2022 to 2024.
