The Phillies released Nick Castellanos on Thursday after failing to find a trade partner for the 33-year old outfielder, three days before position players were scheduled to report to the team’s spring training facilities in Clearwater, Fla.

Although the end of his time with the Phillies has been defined by a prolonged search to shed the $20 million left on his contract, Castellanos was one of the Phillies’ most intriguing characters, on and off the field.

Here’s a look back at some of the right fielder’s most memorable moments from his time with the Phillies:

» READ MORE: A beer in the dugout, a benching, and a rift with his manager: Inside the final Phillies season for Nick Castellanos

The Castellanos Curse

Castellanos became known nationally for hitting home runs with bad timing for broadcasters. It began in an August 2020 game with the Reds when he hit a drive into deep left field while former Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman was apologizing for using a homophobic slur earlier in the broadcast.

When the right fielder logged his first hit with the Phillies in a spring training game against the Blue Jays in 2022, the Toronto broadcasters were discussing pitching coach Pete Walker being charged with driving under the influence a day earlier.

Castellanos caught Phillies broadcaster Tom McCarthy in the middle of a tribute to fallen service members on Veterans Day in 2022, lifting a homer to deep left field as the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast was returning from commercial in the bottom of the second.

Eventually, he began delivering big hits at the same time as major news events or celebrity deaths. Castellanos hit a homer the day I-95 collapsed in Northeast Philadelphia on June 11, 2023.

He hit a walk-off double on the day Willie Mays died in 2024; homered and hit a double on the day President Donald Trump was shot at during a rally in Butler, Pa., in July 2024; and hit a drive into deep left field on the day former President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. He hit a spring training homer on the day Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham announced his retirement in March, although Graham came out of retirement and returned to the Eagles during the 2025 season.

A surge of bets on Castellanos to hit a homer on April 21, the day the Vatican announced the death of Pope Francis, caused FanDuel Sportsbook to temporarily lock the outfielder’s odds. Notably, Castellanos was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts that day, and the Phillies lost to the Mets, 5-4.

» READ MORE: Hayes: Selfish, insubordinate Nick Castellanos is released by Phillies then issues a wild manifesto on Instagram

There is something to suggest that Castellanos was hitting coincidental homers long before anyone was paying attention. He hit his first minor league homer on May 1, 2011, the same day that former President Barack Obama announced the U.S. had killed Osama bin Laden.

Father and son

Castellanos’ son Liam became a good-luck charm for the Phillies as the team made its run to the National League Championship Series in 2023. Liam, who lives in Florida during the school year, witnessed his father play arguably the best two games of his career when the son came to Philadelphia for the team’s division series against the Braves.

With his son in the stands, Castellanos became the first player in MLB history to hit two home runs in back-to-back postseason games.

Liam joined the Phillies at Xfinity Live after they beat the Braves, 3-1, in the NLDS and stuck around for the rest of the postseason, until the Phils fell in a seven-game NLCS to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Liam returned for Red October in 2024 and worked as his father’s good luck charm again. Castellanos claimed a walk-off hit in game two of the NLDS against the Mets to tie the series at one game apiece.

But the Phils’ ride was shorter that season as the Mets won the series in four games.

The team’s postseason luck ran dry in 2025, as the Dodgers beat the Phillies in four games of the division series. Castellanos’ final act in a Phillies uniform was to embrace teammate Orion Kerkering after the pitcher made a season-ending errant throw to home in the bottom of the 11th.

The ‘Miami Incident’

Not all of Castellanos’ moments with the Phillies were highlights. The outfielder took time to address what he called the “Miami incident” in his farewell letter to Philadelphia, which he posted to Instagram on Thursday afternoon.

Castellanos was benched last season during a road series against his hometown team, the Miami Marlins, ending an iron man streak of 236 games. Phillies manager Rob Thomson said the decision to sit Castellanos was due to an “inappropriate comment” the outfielder made after being removed in the eighth inning of the previous game.

Castellanos’ letter says that he brought a can of Presidente beer into the dugout after being removed from the game. The beer was taken from Castellanos’ hand before he could take a sip, but the outfielder still let Thomson know he was frustrated.

“I then sat next to Rob and let him know that too much slack in some areas and to [sic] tight of restrictions in others are not condusive [sic] to us winning,” Castellanos wrote.

Castellanos added that he apologized to Thomson and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski after the incident. Dombrowski said Thursday that Castellanos’ behavior in Miami did not directly contribute to the team’s decision to release him.