Maybe the decision wasn’t so great?
The great debate of spring training.
The debate where everyone knew the answer, yet wanted to talk about it anyway.
Who was going to be the caddie for J.T. Realmuto? Maybe that’s an unfair analogy, but it works just the same. With as much as the team likes to put Realmuto into the lineup, being the Phillies’ backup catcher meant not doing a whole lot of actual playing during the week. It’s not a bad gig.
It’s also not all that important. Just provide something in the realm of acceptable offense, have the pitchers have enough trust in you that they want you behind the plate, maybe throw out a few runners here and there. That’s all they really need. That’s kind of the bare minimum of on field production the team needs from the backup catcher’s spot on the roster.
And yet…
Rafael Marchan has been just fine with behind the plate. I wrote a bit ago about how the team does have two good defensive catchers right now, something really only one other team in the game can lay claim to. Since that’s really the barest of bare minimums for a backup catcher, Marchan has been fine.
With the bat, he’s making us pine for the days of Todd Pratt, Chris Coste and Johnny Estrada.
The numbers that Marchan is posting are very hard to accumulate. Yes, we know he doesn’t have the plate appearances to make any official determinations about his prowess at the plate, but from what we have gleaned, he’s not good.
An isolated power of .000.
A slugging percentage of .100.
Barrel rates, hard hit rates and exit velocities that, when they become official, will rank in the single digit percentiles. These are the kinds of numbers that we would expect from a shortstop hitting ninth on a National League team in 1974. Instead, we’re getting them from a backup catcher, one that was vociferously argued for. They are numbers that make us pine for the next option, as miniscule as the impact on the major league roster may be.
So how is Garrett Stubbs doing?
Subsisting on vibes and coffee, Stubbs was the quintessential backup catcher who simply stopped hitting. Maybe the biggest reason he was beat out by Marchan was that the latter had no more minor league options remaining and the team needed the depth that came with stashing Stubbs in Lehigh Valley. While there, he has hit well, posting a line of .283/.411/.417 with two home runs and twelve RBI, a solid and respectable showing. Does that mean the team is likely to make a change, bringing Stubbs back into the major league fold and wishing Marchan well while they kick him out of the door?
Don’t count on it.
We can probably all agree that all the hand wringing over the Stubbs vs. Marchan battle this spring was all quite silly. Unless he comes out like gangbusters and plays exceedingly well, the backup catcher’s importance is likely not as great as many believe on the Phillies. Maybe the vibes mattered, maybe they didn’t. What did matter was that the team doesn’t have the greatest of catching depth and not sending down the catcher who had the option remaining while keeping the one who didn’t would have been roster negligence. Continuing to retain that depth is still the best course as far as roster construction goes, so that’s likely how the team moves forward.
Still, Marchan has been bad. If he continues to be bad, maybe it forces the team’s hand into making a decision. After all, attaining catcher depth can be as simple as making a minor league signing should Stubbs move into a major league role. Marchan is going to have to prove something at some point.
He’s sure not proving that he’s an option to begin next season as the starter for the Phillies.
So, it’s alright to miss Stubbs being on the roster. Maybe the Phillies would be better off with him there. Maybe they would look like they were having fun again as opposed to the dourness that seems to waft through the team at times.
Just don’t plan on anything happening any time soon.