The Phillies started Max Kepler in right field tonight against Marlins righty Valente Bellozo. That left Nick Castellanos on the bench for the third time in the past four games, all of which came with a right-hander on the mound.
Manager Rob Thomson said Thursday that Kepler would pick up increased playing time against righties (link via Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic). “At this point in the year, I’m going to put out what I think is the best lineup on any given day to win a ballgame,” Thomson said. “There’s still a bit of a rotation, if you want to call it that. If you want to call it a platoon, doesn’t matter to me.”
That won’t leave much playing time for the righty-hitting Castellanos. That’s less about handedness and more a reflection of his numbers in the second half. Castellanos carries a .199/.253/.309 batting line since the All-Star Break. He had a sub-.600 OPS in both July and August. Kepler’s season numbers are poor, but he’s been the much better hitter in recent weeks. The lefty batter owns a .267/.318/.483 slash with a dramatically reduced 12.1% strikeout rate since the beginning of August. That doesn’t include tonight’s performance, in which he chipped in another two knocks and a home run.
The Phils haven’t wanted to give Kepler playing time against left-handed pitching all season. He’s hitting .196/.258/.304 without the platoon advantage. Castellanos will continue to get at-bats against southpaws. The outfield against righty pitching will run Brandon Marsh, Harrison Bader and Kepler from left to right. Castellanos obviously isn’t going to take more than a scattered start at DH or first base from Kyle Schwarber or Bryce Harper. He’ll be relegated to a short-side platoon role barring an injury.
Castellanos is in the fourth season of a five-year deal that pays him $20MM annually. The Phils signed Castellanos and Schwarber within days of one another coming out of the 2022 lockout. The Schwarber contract has been one of the best free agent pickups in recent memory. The Castellanos addition hasn’t worked out nearly as well. He’s been exceptionally durable and racked up counting stats (including a 29-homer season with 106 RBI in 2023). His rate metrics at the plate have been essentially league average, though, and he’s one of the league’s worst defensive outfielders. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference have each valued Castellanos around a cumulative one win above replacement over the past four seasons.
Schwarber, Bader and Kepler are each impending free agents. The Phils could turn left field to former first-round pick Justin Crawford in 2026. It’s tough to imagine they’ll roll with Castellanos as an everyday right fielder next season. They’re going to make an effort to bring Schwarber back at designated hitter. It stands to reason they’ll try to find a trade partner willing to assume a small portion of Castellanos’ salary, but his second-half numbers could leave them weighing an offseason release if they don’t find a taker.
Bader and Marsh homered tonight
As did Max Kepler.
It appears that Thomson finally tired of the pressure to have Nick in there every day and playing politician with the media – a good thing at this point as they need to squeeze every ounce out of the lineup and egos should be checked at the door. No Wheeler and an iffy Nola means that they need to hit on all cylinders otherwise to get through October.
I say this while respecting Nick – he is a gamer, and a guy that everyone in the clubhouse loves. He is a bit of a unique soul and an interesting guy. I do think that he is misinterpreted by the media and the fans to a point and he has had a really good career overall. The toughest thing in the world is for an athlete to start losing to Father Time, and the good father has been chipping away at him for a while now. .
Great take. Truth is his defensive play has never really been close to optimal but the other factors stated and a great bat kind of brought balance. DH seems like the best route at 33, but unfortunately isn’t needed. Nicks veteran leadership is super important, hoping he can adjust.
I was kind of shocked looked at Harper’s overall numbers, too, and am wondering if 33 is the new 40.
Very well said. He’s been a good contributor who helped the club. I think he could do well in Pittsburgh or Cleveland, just never was a great fit in Philadelphia.
Phils would have to eat the majority of the remaining contract, but I do think that folks forget the small supply out there of good-hitting OF in today’s game. A 2nd division club looking for a veteran team leader that can add some stability is a better fit for me. Maybe a year in his home of Miami works.
Good article on how he and others are now handling the outfield rotation from the Inquirer:
inquirer.com/phillies/nick-castellanos-marlins-out…
Bader needs a full season as a Phillie next year. He’s a good player. Not a star but a guy that gets it done. Kepler, unless he’s under a two year contract, is gone next year. Castellanos most likely will be traded in the offseason. I like him, he’s a character. He’s had some good moments but it’s time to part ways. He’s probably also a guy that if unhappy goes from a character to a very miserable guy. Resigning Schwarber should be the top priority. Trading Castellanos might free up a little money.
They’ll have to pay down some of his salary to get anyone to take him, though.
Only $19.2 million of it.
his time with the phils has been pretty underwhelming
1 good season in between 3 disappointing ones
it was a bad signing and everyone knew it at the time. just did not make sense for one team to have both him and Schwarber. But truth be told I think Schwarber was the player whose value I have most underrated in the last 5 years. I was so happy the red sox did not resign him. My bad
Schwarber made a huge adjustment to tighten up his strikezone the last two seasons. Not an easy feat. Before that, he was Joey Gallo.
YBC
“Schwarber made a huge adjustment to tighten up his strikezone the last two seasons. Not an easy feat. Before that, he was Joey Gallo.”
Schwarber 2025: 14.9 BB% 26.6 K%
Schwarber career: 14.2 BB% 28.3 K%
Not much of a difference there
How has he tightened up his strike zone?
I think he’s been laying off the high fastball much more in the 2024-25 seasons than he did in 2022-23., which is forcing pitchers to at least throw a competitive pitch. He used to swing at a lot of pitches that he had no chance of hitting.
Feel better after that. Does someone need a hug?
I don’t know if you noticed but schwarber doesn’t really hit many 360 foot homers. They’re almost all 400 plus
He has increased his BA and OBP quite a bit from his first two years in Philly.
Schwarber also tightened his beltline – he’s in much better shape than he was 10 years ago.
It was a shock to them to be signed at the same time for the same team after the stoppage. 2 schools of thought at the top and 4 years later hindsight is 20/20. But neither one of them is playing the outfield now and it’s just analytics with Philly.
Nick Castellanos has been my least favorite player ever since his classless comments about the Tigers and Comerica Park when the Tigers traded him just before he reached free agency. Karma is a beotch, eh Nicky?
Me personally, it’s a little hard to say this is bad karma when the guy has made 2 All-Star games, got to play in the World Series, and got his $100 million contract after said comments.
$100M of karma
@ataphan – Amazing that you can use a keyboard with your knuckles dragging on the floor. Now all that is required of you is to put the muzzle back on.
Fun fact: Nick’s AVG/OBP/SLG are all higher lifetime at Comerica than Citizens Bank
Castellanos is the definition of you can’t make an error if you never can get to the ball. Constantly at the bottom of defensive runs saved and outs above average, poor route running and poor jumps, 30th percentile of arm strength. Yet somehow he has a .996 fielding percentage since 2021. Pretty much will catch whatever is hit directly at him, but that’s about it.
That was Bernie Williams also but he does have four rings and a few GGs.
If he had played 50 years ago before Bill James came out with Range Factor and before defensive stats evolved into the metrics we now have, people would have been heard to say, “He’s a great fielder.”
True. He made the routine plays look easy but had a noodle arm. I watched a lot of Griffey, Jr. and Mets games to see Andruw Jones and later Carlos Beltran so I’m not as biased as lots of other Yankees fan.
I pride myself and think of myself as a man of faith in Castellanos hitting a drive to deep left
First Michael Stipe was losing his religion, now Nicks losing playing time.
How much of his $20 million salary would the Phillies have to eat to get some team to take him for next year? $12 million?
18-19 million
I’d guess a bit less
I’d guess a bit more.
I’d guess a bit more. But something like that
I guess it would be worth whatever it cost. If Schwarber walks they could play Castellanos at DH, but I think they just need to spend whatever it takes to bring Schwarber back. The lineup would be average without Schwarber. And I certainly can’t see giving him the everyday right field job back, the dude just can’t play right field anymore.
Your DH can’t have a .700 OPS.
Depends if they’re throwing a prospect in and of what caliber
$19.2 million.
Braves sure would enjoy not seeing him
Phillies would gladly send him their way.
He can platoon with O’Hearn has our 2026 DH
His mom is hot.
not the point, Bucket
It is an amazing quirk of fate that Castellanos similarity score ever since he got that contract has been locked at the hip with Vernon Wells.
AA moved that contract before it got ugly and a current career -17dWAR doesn’t really compare to a career -0.4bWAR of Wells.
Toronto did a great job of getting Napoli for Wells in that trade and then they gave away Napoli for virtually nothing to Texas a week later. The fact that the Angels got the Yankees to take the last year of Wells contract is the amazing part.
Also, Sim Scores really just compare offensive value so they’re more of a toy than something truly rigorous. However, once Wells moved from CF to LF their values became quite similar. and overpaid.
I think Thompson and his staff grew tired of swings at pitches in the dirt and Sunday choppers to 3rd base.
Nick’s defensive metrics have him dead last at his position. When you combine that with his post all star game hitting stats, he belongs on the short side of an OF platoon.
*DH platoon
He needs a broadcaster to say something offensive on a hot mic to get his bat going again.
This is the crawford curse I tell ya
They should move him back to 3rd base so that we can see the lowlight reels again
Id rather watch his 3rd base lowlights instead of Arenado or Chapman highlights
DFA
Some players don’t hit well at DH and shouldn’t be used there. I remember Magglio Ordonez didn’t hit as a DH and I think Nicolas Castellanos is in this category too.
His chase rate, according to baseball savant, is about 40 percent which is real bad. 2 years in a row he needed to get that down and hasn’t. It’s part of why he disappeared in the NLCS 2 years ago. That’s gonna get you benched.