Phillies option Garrett Stubbs to triple A; Rafael Marchán will be the backup catcher
Stubbs, who still had minor league options left, will be on speed dial at Lehigh Valley where he plans to help the IronPigs' young pitchers just like he did with the Phillies.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — The tap on the shoulder came a few minutes after 8 a.m. Thursday, and Garrett Stubbs knew exactly what it was about.
Truth be told, he has known for a while.
Because despite being the Phillies’ backup catcher three years running — three seasons in which the team reached the postseason — Stubbs has minor league options. Rafael Marchán does not. So, if it came down to Stubbs or Marchán to play behind J.T. Realmuto, the Phillies were going to choose Marchán.
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One week before opening day, they made it official, optioning Stubbs to triple A. Manager Rob Thomson delivered the news to the popular 31-year-old catcher in a meeting that included president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and general manager Preston Mattingly.
“I knew it was a possibility coming into spring training, just knowing the circumstances with options and the business side of baseball, which can get crappy at times,” Stubbs said. “Whether there was minds to change or not — probably not — no matter when I’m on the field, I’m going to be playing my [heart] out. That’s just the only way I know how to do it.
“It ended up coming down to the business side of baseball.”
Realmuto plays more than any catcher in baseball. Backing him up and being productive isn’t easy. Stubbs batted .222 with a .628 OPS in all of 433 plate appearances over 141 games since 2022.
But he gained notoriety — and more important, respect from big-name players who elected him as their representative in the players’ union — for helping to build a positive culture, be it by curating the team’s victory playlist or donning celebratory overalls after wins.
“This was a tough day for me,” Thomson said. “Just knowing how important Stubby is to the culture around here. He’s such a great teammate. But I do think he knows we love him and that he’s really important to the ballclub.”
Stubbs also played a central role in putting together the Phillies’ game plan. Whether he was playing or not, he participated in daily pregame scouting meetings with the pitchers, Realmuto, and pitching coach Caleb Cotham.
When the Phillies called up Marchán last June to fill in while Realmuto recovered from minor knee surgery, Stubbs mentored him, too.
“My first thing that I did was tell Marchán, ‘Hey, I’m going to do my scouting report at this time today, and you should come and sit with me and just see how I prepare,’” Stubbs recalled. “It doesn’t mean you have to prepare in the same way, but maybe you can take some things that I’m doing.”
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On the field, though, Marchán has greater upside. For years, the Phillies lauded his defense and believed he could be part of their catching tandem, but injuries got in the way. Healthy at last, the 26-year-old switch hitter will get his chance.
And because the Phillies are hoping to trim Realmuto’s workload, it might be a slightly more sizable opportunity than Stubbs received.
“A while ago, we thought [Marchán] had a chance to be an everyday catcher,” Dombrowski said. “And many [teams] approached us along those lines. Over the last six months, his name’s come up a lot from other clubs. But the reality is, we like him. We have liked him for a long time.”
Stubbs hasn’t played in the minors since 2021 with the Astros. In anticipating his role with Lehigh Valley, he discussed working with young pitchers, such as Mick Abel, and bringing the Phillies’ approach to their major league staff down to triple A.
It almost sounds like Stubbs is an extension of the coaching staff.
“I’ve been fortunate to be in winning organizations for my whole career,” Stubbs said. “I’ve seen World Series; I’ve seen NLCSs, ALCSs, division championships. All I care about is winning, and that’s what I’ve done my whole career and I hope to do that in triple A for that team because it’ll be preparing guys to learn how to win when they get to the big leagues.”
And the Phillies will also preserve precious catching depth. If they had kept Stubbs and tried to sneak Marchán through waivers, he almost certainly would have gotten claimed.
Now, they’ll have Stubbs on speed dial, 70 miles away in Allentown.
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“That’s definitely the hardest part about all this,” he said. “I created a lot of really incredible friendships. I feel like I’ve had a huge impact on how we operate as a team collectively, and getting guys to kind of move in one direction.
“There’s a difference between having incredibly talented players and having winning players. [Those] are two separate things. We’ve created a culture over the last three years that has created winning players, and I feel like I’ve definitely had a hand as well as other guys in this locker room. We’ve created a winning culture that I hope sticks around with or without me.”