Aug 1, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Jimmy Rollins addresses the Phillies dugout during Toyota Phillies Wall of Fame Night at Citizens Bank Park. (Grace Del Pizzo/On Pattison)
During his 15-year career with the Phillies, Jimmy Rollins was a threat anytime he got on base.
Rollins' 453 stolen bases as a Phillie weren't the result of simple luck, nor were they the result of sheer speed. They were the product of baseball intelligence and situational awareness.
Therefore, Rollins was the perfect person to break down what exactly Nick Castellanos should have done during Bryson Stott's controversial at-bat Monday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The ninth-inning bunt heard 'round the world has already been discussed ad nauseam. On the first pitch of the at-bat, the Dodgers either disguised or telegraphed the wheel play, depending on who you talk to. Rob Thomson said Mookie Betts "did a great job of disguising the wheel play," while Stott said he saw exactly what the Dodgers were doing.
But there's a third character in play here: From his vantage point at second base, did Castellanos recognize the wheel play?
Rollins is an analyst with the MLB on TBS crew. During Monday night's postgame show, he was asked for his thoughts on the whole sequence, and he didn't hold back.
Jimmy Rollins analyzed Nick Castellanos’ base running during the Bryson Stott bunt situation:
“As a baserunner, you have to see what’s going on.”
(via @TNTSportsUS) pic.twitter.com/SqofRC6pKE
"So the wheel play means, 'we're giving up second base. We're going to take our chance and get the out at third. Worst case scenario, he's safe, we get the out at first,'" Rollins said.
"But as a baserunner, you have to see what's going on."
Rollins pointed out that Betts wasn't really holding Castellanos at second base; instead, Betts just stood right behind him. Castellanos took his lead, but he went straight towards third. Rollins didn't like that.
"You're always taught, at second base when you take your lead, you walk towards the shortstop. At that position, (Castellanos) can feel Mookie, he can hear Mookie. When Mookie moves, you move with him," Rollins explained. "But remember, there's no force play at third. He has to tag you at third."
In Rollins' mind, without the threat of being picked off at second base, the baserunner can get as far toward third base as he can, and he can always get back to second. But Castellanos didn't do that.
"He was kind of stood there, almost like there was no game plan," Rollins said. "(You) can dictate a lot of things as a runner."
The full three-minute video is absolutely worth a watch, because Rollins physically demonstrated exactly what Castellanos should have done and used co-host Curtis Granderson as a fill-in for Betts.
Essentially, if Castellanos followed Betts with his lead and positioned himself between Betts and second base, the only way Betts could have picked him off would have been to run through Castellanos. In that case, Castellanos would have gotten a free advance to third base.
But on that second pitch, where Stott laid the bunt down, Rollins said Castellanos should have anticipated the bunt and taken off for third base right alongside Betts.
"I'm going right there with him, as fast as I can, as far as I can, because I do want to get to third. But if I see that Mookie's four, five steps ahead of me, I can hit on the brakes," Rollins said.
"They're going to yell third, because that's what it looks like I'm doing. I can go back to second. Now there's runners on first and second and nobody out."
The what-if scenarios surrounding Stott's bunt seem endless.
But if Castellanos had done what Rollins proposed – "find the shortstop, get in his face" – he could have gotten a much deeper lead, and maybe the Phillies wouldn't be in a 0-2 hole heading into Game 3 of the NLDS.
Instead, like Rollins pointed out, it looked like the Phillies had no game plan. The Dodgers clearly showed the wheel play on the first pitch of the at-bat. Stott noticed. Thomson didn't. Castellanos either didn't notice, or he noticed and failed to adjust his baserunning strategy accordingly.
