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Irreverent Philadelphia Sports Blogging Just isn’t Going to be the Same Without Nick Castellanos
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The Phillies released Nick Castellanos on Thursday afternoon. It was inevitable with the way the relationship soured, spurred by the mysterious MIAMI INCIDENT, which Nick Castellanos spoke about on Instagram right before the roster move.
He said he brought a beer* into the dugout and then there was a Festivus-style airing of grievances between himself, Rob Thomson, and Dave Dombrowski. For the other side of the story, Matt Gelb at The Athletic wrote up a deep dive citing “more than a dozen Phillies players, staff members and officials, who were all granted anonymity to speak freely.” Those individuals said that Castellanos disrespected Thomson and crossed a line in the process, and here we are today.
The Phils will have Adolis Garcia in right field this season, and while he may or not may not be an upgrade on the field, he’s downgrade off of it, because who is going to give us the opportunity to write headlines like these? –
Castellanos was the perfect subject for irreverent Philly sports blogging. He was honest and blunt and just said whatever was on his mind. He never beat around the bush or delivered any kind of canned quotes or sanitized, pre-fab platitudes.
When Tom McCarthy asked what Nick learned about himself during the 2023 season, Castellanos paused to reflect, then said, “not a damn thing.” Taryn Hatcher asked him what was going through his mind before a big walkoff hit, to which Castellanos replied, “honestly, nothing really.” There were the famous interviews in which he said “yeah, I fuck with Philly” while pointing out that the Phils “thrive after we get punched in the face.” There was also the messy, but entertaining drama with Gelb, Jamie Apody, and Jim Salisbury.
We were given a preview of what was to come when Castellanos told all of us at his introductory press conference that he doesn’t have a college degree. He gets paid to hit baseballs. Later, he would tell everyone that he doesn’t necessarily have an approach at the plate, instead “I look for the baseball and hit it as hard as I can.” Not exactly what you want to hear if you’re Phillies management, but Nick had some big hits in the playoffs, the 2022 and 2023 NLDS in particular. He also turned the world upside down when claiming that Scooby Doo was his favorite super hero, which was revelatory at the time because nobody had ever thought of Scooby Doo as a superhero. He shared a somewhat deep take on the Phillies Karen and said that tanking owners who don’t spend money should face consequences. He had his experience with booing Phillies fans (just like everyone who comes here) and shared totally reasonable opinions on the double-edged sword of Citizens Bank Park and its atmospheric shifts.
Bottom line, Philly has always respected players who are upfront and honest and don’t bullshit the fans. That was Nick Castellanos. Say whatever you want to say about him reaching for sliders in the dirt, or having a poor 2025 season overall, but the guy had some really nice moments during his first three seasons. We’ll look back at this era of Phillies baseball with fondness and he’ll be part of the story. He was a unique guy and gave us a lot of really good content over the years, perhaps to the point where royalties are due. Check’s in the mail! Well not yet. We need to see who scoops him up first.
*Presidente is legitimately good. They drink it in the Domincan Republic. Crisp and refreshing.
sidenote: the Phillies are the #1 site traffic generator for us. it’s not the Eagles, believe it or not. I would assume this is different at other outlets
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com