Nick Castellanos Likely Disrespected Rob Thomson ‘A Whole Lot’

Former Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro said it was “the right thing to do” for Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson to bench outfielder Nick Castellanos for Tuesday’s game against the Marlins after Castellanos made an “inappropriate comment” to the manager a night earlier.

On The Phillies Show podcast that dropped Wednesday, Amaro said, “I bet whatever (Castellanos) said to him that Rob Thomson wanted to beat his ass. I’m sure he wanted to fight him… Rob Thomson doesn’t make those moves unless it was disrespectful.”

Thomson said Castellanos made the comment after he was removed from Monday’s game in the eighth inning for defensive purposes. He was replaced by Johan Rojas, who played center field while Max Kepler shifted from center to take over for Castellanos in right.

Amaro, who’s also part of the Phillies broadcast team, said on the podcast that he has no information on the comment that provoked Castellanos’ benching. “He probably had to disrespect (Thomson) a whole lot to get pulled out of that game because Thomson is not a knee-jerk guy. He is a very level-headed man. But at some point you have a breaking point and you can’t be embarrassed by your players,” Amaro said.

Amaro also agreed with Thomson’s decision to pull Castellanos for defensive purposes. “I have to say that the move that Rob Thomson made was perfect,” Amaro said. “Get the best defensive players there and go. That’s what you do as a manager. You put the best defensive team out there. No disrespect to Castellanos.”

Castellanos said of the incident, “I wasn’t happy about it, spoke my mind. He said that I crossed a line. So, my punishment is I’m not playing.”

Castellanos’ consecutive games streak ended at 236. The last game he missed for the Phillies was on Sept. 30, 2023.

Thomson downplayed the drama before Tuesday’s game. “One of the many things about Nick that I love is that he’s very emotional,” the manager said. “He loves to play, and he loves to play every inning of every game. I just thought last night he made an inappropriate comment after he came out, and so today, he’s not going to play. And I’m going to leave it at that.”

Castellanos, in his fourth season with the Phils after inking a five-year $100 million contract in 2022, is batting .278 with seven home runs and 36 RBI this season.