Padres pregame: Padres DFA Nick Castellanos in Philly; Samad Taylor added to roster
The Nick Castellanos experiment has come to an end at the place where it originated.
Released by the Phillies in spring training, the 34-year-old veteran has been designated for assignment head of Wednesday's 3:40 p.m. start in Philadelphia to make room for Samad Taylor on both the active and 40-man roster. The Padres have seven days to release, trade, waive or outright Castellanos to the minors.
It is the second time in as many days in which the Padres have dipped into their farm system looking for ways to boost one of the major's most inept offenses as Jase Bowen, the Padres' system's home run leader, was added to the mix on Tuesday.
Unlike Bowen, the 27-year-old Taylor isn't strictly an outfielder who can play all three spots. Taylor has played five games at second base this year at Triple-A El Paso - where he was hitting .319/.406/.500 with seven homers and nine steals in 10 attempts through 51 games - and has 557 games there in the minors, as well as 33 games at third base and 38 games at shortstop.
Taylor has also seen time at all three outfield spots, as well as second base and third base while hitting .205/.272/.260 across parts of three seasons in the majors.
Castellanos came through in some big moments while learning how to be a role player through the first two months of the season, but he was hitting .191/.221/.339 across 39 games, well below his career batting line (.270/.319/.462) across 14 big-league seasons.
He began the season getting used to first base for the first time in his career, but had gotten more regular work in the outfield after Jake Cronenworth's concussion as the Padres began playing two-time Platinum Glove-winning right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. regularly at second base to allow Castellanos to get at-bats in the outfield.
It remains to be seen how much Tatis will continue to see time at second base following the addition of Taylor, but he will lead off and play second base on Wednesday. Taylor is not in the lineup but Bowen will start in right field.
Castellanos was released in spring training following butting heads with former Phillies manager Rob Thomson and the coaching staff while seeing a reduction in playing time last year. The Phillies were paying all but the league minimum of Castellanos' $20 million salary for this season, but with an offense that ranks last in runs scored (229) and batting average (.218) and second to last in on-base percentage (.293), slugging (.363) and OPS (.656), the Padres’ patience has been tried while attempt to jump-start the offense while the team is still in possession of a wild-card spot.
To be clear, Castellanos was an on-the-margins player in a lineup - overseen by first-year hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. - that has seen Tatis (.677 OPS) hit just one homer through more than two months of the season, Manny Machado (.609 OPS) rank dead last among all qualifiers with a .171 batting average, Jackson Merrill (.606 OPS) drastically underperform expectations and Xander Bogaerts (.681 OPS) fall back to his Padres-era norms after a fast start to the season.
Here is how the Phillies, who have won all four meetings so far, will line up for Game 2 in Philadelphia:
Wednesday’s pitching matchup
Padres RHP Walker Buehler (3-3, 4.88 ERA)
He's gone at least five innings in five straight starts (4.39 ERA), which includes allowing two runs in 5⅓ innings in a loss last week to the Phillies at Petco Park. Buehler has an 8.04 ERA over four starts on the road, compared to 3.50 in seven starts at Petco Park. Opposing hitters' .680 OPS is more than 100 points better than last year's (.795).
Here is how Buehler has fared against current Phillies in the regular season:
Phillies LHP Cristopher Sánchez (6-2, 1.47 ERA)
He's riding a franchise-record 44 ⅔-inning scoreless streak, which includes striking out nine over seven shutout innings in a win over the Padres in last week's start at Petco Park. Sánchez allowed six hits and no walks. He leads the majors in bWAR (4.3), ERA, innings (78⅓), ERA+ (323) and FIP (1.82).
Here is how Sanchez has fared against current Padres:
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This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 12:43 PM.