{"id":80381,"date":"2024-07-17T16:43:32","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T20:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=80381"},"modified":"2024-07-17T16:44:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T20:44:04","slug":"phillies-backup-catcher-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/17\/phillies-backup-catcher-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillies Face Interesting Decision Regarding Backup Catcher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Philadelphia Phillies will have an interesting decision to make in terms of their backup catcher. With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/realmjt01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-17_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">J.T. Realmuto<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/philadelphia\/news\/phillies-realmuto-stubbs-marchan-backup-catcher\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">expected to return<\/a> from the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/06\/11\/jt-realmuto-knee-surgery\/\" target=\"_self\">injured list<\/a> soon, the team will have to choose between two options. Both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/stubbga01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-17_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Garrett Stubbs<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/marchra01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rafael March\u00e1n<\/a><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\"> have compelling cases to be the Phillies&#8217; backup catcher going forward. In this case, minor league options are not a factor because both Stubbs and <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n are in their last option year. Neither player has more than five years of major league service time, meaning an option being rejected by a player is not a factor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Phillies Face a Backup Catcher Decision<\/h2>\n<h3>The Case For and Against Stubbs<\/h3>\n<p>In 36 games this season, Stubbs has a .185\/.261\/.231 line with one home run and six RBI, along with a 41 OPS+ and a 44 wRC+. FanGraphs rates him with a -6.8 offensive value. In the 17 games Stubbs has played since Realmuto went on the injured list, he has a .196\/.250\/.268 line with one home run and three RBI. During that span, he has a 47 wRC+ and a .278 BABIP as well. In those 17 games, Stubbs has a 4.9% walk rate and a 31.1% strikeout rate, while having an 8.3% walk rate and a 26.7% strikeout rate overall this season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">GARRETT STUBBS TO THE SECOND DECK!! <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/f5IOWCMn1i\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/f5IOWCMn1i<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ArcainiLuke\/status\/1807154451352007002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>While the offense may not be great Stubbs is a good defensive catcher. FanGraphs gives him a 1.7 defensive value this season. Baseball Savant ranks Stubbs in the 82nd percentile for pop time, and he ranks in the 86th percentile in caught stealing above average this season. However, Stubbs has -3 Defensive Runs Saved and a -2 Fielding Runs Value at catcher this season according to FanGraphs. With that being said, the pitching staff and Phillies clubhouse like Stubbs&#8217;s presence.<\/p>\n<h3>The Case For and Against <span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In 17 games this season, <span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n has a .294\/.345\/.549 line with three home runs and six RBI. He also <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">has a 148 OPS+ and a 149 wRC+. FanGraphs rates <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n with a 2.7 offensive value this season. At the plate, he<\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">\u00a0has a 5.4% walk rate and a 14.3% strikeout rate. <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n has a .300 BABIP this season. He has been especially hot since June 30. In that time, <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n has a .381\/.458\/.667 line with one home run and two RBI, along with<\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\"> a 213 wRC+, an 8.0% walk rate, and a 20.0% strikeout rate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Ring it, Rafael!!<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RingTheBell?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#RingTheBell<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/t4AfHX8tpe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/t4AfHX8tpe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Phillies\/status\/1806469159624016376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 27, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>FanGraphs rates <span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n with a 1.5 defensive value this season, giving him<\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">\u00a0-1 Defensive Runs Saved with a 1 Fielding Run Value. <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n does not have many Baseball Savant percentile rankings due to the limited amount of playing time he has this season. However, he does rank<\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\"> in the 64th percentile for blocks above average this season. His only other Baseball Savant ranking puts him<\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">\u00a0in the 2oth percentile in sprint speed.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Who Should Be The Phillies Backup Catcher<\/h3>\n<p>The decision will be a tough one given how well <span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n has played. Stubbs has also not had the greatest season at the plate. However, when all factors are considered, keeping Stubbs as the backup catcher makes the most sense. <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n has been injured for most of his career and has played in only 40 major league games. Additionally, <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n has not had a major league season with more than 57 plate appearances<\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">. Meanwhile, Stubbs has played in 178 major league games and is beloved within the Phillies clubhouse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The best thing to do is option <span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n to Triple-A Lehigh Valley once Realmuto returns. That will allow <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n to play on a more regular basis as opposed to playing once or twice a week in the majors. Since <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">he has spent a lot of time on the injured list over the years, it is better to have him playing consistently at Triple-A. <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">This will allow the Phillies to revisit and reevaluate the backup catching spot in the offseason. It would not necessarily be a surprise if <\/span><span class=\"player-header--vitals-name\">March\u00e1n is the Phillies backup catcher next season instead of Stubbs, but right now is not the right time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Philadelphia Phillies will have an interesting decision to make in terms of their backup catcher. With J.T. Realmuto expected to return from the injured list soon, the team will have to choose between two options. Both Garrett Stubbs and Rafael March\u00e1n have compelling cases to be the Phillies&#8217; backup catcher going forward. In this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4566,"featured_media":80386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1071],"tags":[28358,469,28359],"class_list":["post-80381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-phillies","category-mlb","tag-garrett-stubbs","tag-j-t-realmuto","tag-rafael-marchan"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}