Nick Castellanos has been designated for assignment by the San Diego Padres. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire)
After 59 games, Nick Castellanos is no longer a San Diego Padre. The former Phillie was designated for assignment on Wednesday with the team in his former home city of Philadelphia. Castellanos was on the Padres roster for the series opener against Philadelphia, but not in the starting lineup.
“Nick is such a pro,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “I really enjoyed having him in San Diego. We had conversations with him when we signed him that he was going to earn his playing time and it was probably going to be a different role. It wasn’t going to be an everyday role that he has been accustomed to for the last 12-15 years of his entire life playing baseball.
“And I think it was definitely something that was tough for him. It was tough for him to transition from playing every single day to playing two days, then two days off, play another day and another day off. It was a difficult transition to him. It’s something that he probably didn’t love either, you know. In the end, it didn’t feel comfortable for him. So I think the conversations that we had back and forth were great, great communication, but just decided to make a move and change the roster up a little bit.”
Castellanos was asked to be a part-time player in San Diego, something he did not embrace in his time in Philadelphia. He gave it a try, but it didn’t work out. He batted .191 with four home runs in his time with the Padres. The club opted for more youth and versatility.
He’s going home to be a Padre.
“It just felt like trending toward the direction that he wasn’t very comfortable in that (part-time) role,” Stammen said. “For him personally, I know he’s got a lot going on with his family and wanting to be around his kids a lot. Maybe this is an opportunity for that, but maybe an opportunity for him to go somewhere else and find a place where he can play every day.”
Castellanos had conversations with Stammen and Padres general manager A.J. Preller over the last few weeks about his role and playing time. Castellanos was critical of former manager Rob Thomson’s communication style in Philadelphia. Castellanos spoke about the communication with the Padres higher ups last week when the Phillies were in San Diego.
“Front office consistently asking questions about how I see things, and when they talk back to me, it’s straight,” Castellanos said last week. “Which is great, because then I know what’s up. I don’t have to think or speculate, or, ‘What did they really mean by that?’”
San Diego expected to have some sort of roster logjam when they signed a handful of veterans in spring training. In the end, others outperformed Castellanos.
“I have so much respect for Nick Castellanos,” Stammen said. “He was so much fun to have on our team. He came up with some huge hits throughout the year, played at times really good for us. But his roster fit with Miguel Andujar, Ty France, Nick Castellanos, all three on the roster at the same time, we kind of left spring training thinking it was going to be a battle. Two of those three guys were going to stick around and one was probably going to be the odd man out if we ever decided to make a change with the roster. Miguel and Ty have been two of our best hitters thus far, and that’s kind of the nature of baseball and how things work out.”
