PHILADELPHIA — Rob Thomson’s handling of a four-man rotation for three outfield spots has led to an uptick in both offensive production and one-word Nick Castellanos answers.

The latter dominated the news cycle in South Philadelphia on Saturday, after a curt Castellanos started, saved a run with a defensive play and was lifted for a defensive replacement in the ninth inning of Friday’s 2-1 win over Atlanta.

Thomson described that choice, after the Phillies win, as a “check your egos at the door” situation. Castellanos offered one-word affirmative replies to questions like, “is it an adjustment not to know if you’re playing ever day?” and “is it frustrating when you’re not out there in the ninth?”

“We don’t have to make a big deal out of this,” Thomson said with slight exasperation Saturday. “He’s frustrated because he wants to play. That’s it. I understand. I wouldn’t respect a guy if he wanted to come out of a game.”

Castellanos has struggled at the plate since the All-Star break, hitting .197 with 10 RBIs in 33 games ahead of Saturday’s start against Chris Sale and the Braves. He’s struggled in the outfield all year: At 12 outs below average, he’s ranked 261st out of 263 qualifying fielders as among the worst defenders in baseball.

The right fielder, who played all 162 games last year, was pulled from a game in June as a defensive replacement. He was benched for a game for an inappropriate remark to Thomson a week later.

But Thomson hasn’t replaced Castellanos defensively late in a game since, despite bringing one of the better outfield defenders in baseball, Harrison Bader, over at the trade deadline.

Castellanos went 0-for-3 Friday, but he threw out Matt Olson at the plate on a shallow fly ball to right to end the top of the fifth. He was replaced by Bader in the ninth, Max Kepler sliding from left to right.

Castellanos said postgame that he didn’t talk to Thomson about the decision.

Since he was stranded on first base to end the bottom of the eighth after drawing a walk, first-base coach Paco Figueroa was the one who told Castellanos he was coming out of the game, not Thomson. The fact that it was a 2-1 game factored in, as did closer Jhoan Duran, who pitched the ninth, being a victim of soft contact in recent weeks, particularly to the corner outfield spots.

Thomson refuted the line of communication as being a point of dissension but rather standard procedure.

He’s aiming to be proactive in communicating changes, with an eye toward the novelty for Castellanos as someone who is just becoming accustomed to not being an automatic, daily starter.

“I try as best I can to stay ahead of it and sort of map it out,” Thomson said. “Try to figure out who’s going to play when, and then sort of give them a heads up.”

Thomson left the door open with an “absolutely” to one of the four gaining full-time purchase in the outfield. Kepler is hitting .273 with three homers in August after a rough summer. Bader has a .313 average in 23 games as a Phillie. Castellanos hasn’t yet made that kind of claim.

Past spats aside, Thomson remains confident that Castellanos’ prickliness about not playing is coming from the right place.

“Nick just wants to play and that’s it,” Thomson said. “I think most guys get frustrated when they come out or don’t play, because they want to play, and that’s normal.”

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The Braves activated Chris Sale from the 60-day injured list for Saturday’s start against the Phillies. Sale last started in the big leagues on June 18, suffering a fractured left rib, part of the snake bit starting staff whose raft of injuries torpedoed the Braves’ season.

Sale entered 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA in six career starts against the Phillies.

“The velocity was down in his last start, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Thomson said. “It’s a minor league game. He’s just getting tuned up, knows he’s coming here for his next start. I would expect that he’s going to be normal.”