The Philadelphia Phillies outfield group of Brandon Marsh, Nick Castellanos and Max Kepler was underwhelming for most of the year, forcing the team to trade for Harrison Bader.
The Phillies’ acquisition of Bader has led to a rotation in the outfield, which has even forced an All-Star like Nick Castellanos out of an everyday role. Castellanos is a two-time All-Star and a Silver Slugger Award winner, although he has been basically a league-average bat since joining the Phillies, with whom he has a 101 OPS+ in four-plus seasons.
Even by those standards, he is having a mediocre season and was pulled from Friday night’s game as a defensive replacement, despite making a great catch earlier in the game. Castellanos is not used to being pulled from games or not starting. He even got into a confrontation with Rob Thomson after he was pulled from a game as a defensive replacement earlier this season.
Bader is a better defender than Castellanos, and the numbers support the team replacing Castellanos in the outfield to put the Phillies’ best defense on the field late in a game. However, Castellanos was asked if he was frustrated with his new role, and he did not leave much room for interpretation.
“Yes,” Castellanos told The Athletic’s Charlotte Varnes.
Castellanos played in every game for the Phillies last season, starting every single one. And 143 of those games were complete games. This season, he has started 124 games, but only 111 have been complete games as an outfielder.
His numbers this season further support Thomson’s decision not to plug him in the lineup every day or pull him from games. His .700 OPS is in danger of falling below or matching the .694 OPS he posted in his first year with Philadelphia in 2022.
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