The Glorious Garrett Stubbs, Phillies Backup Catcher and Hype Man

Garrett Stubbs has either the best gig in baseball or the worst.

On the one hand, the Phillies’ backup catcher gets to work behind one of the most talented backstops in the game, J.T. Realmuto. On the other hand… this means that he almost never gets to play. Realmuto led baseball in innings caught this year. Again. He is the only player in baseball who has started more than 500 games at catcher since 2018. He just won his second Gold Glove, joining his two Silver Sluggers and three trips to the All-Star Game. In other words, he hardly ever takes a day off, and there is little reason for a manager to want to give him one.

So, is backing him up a great gig or a terrible one? The best in baseball, definitely, Stubbs says—and then some.

“I have the best job in the entire world,” Stubbs says with a grin. “Obviously everyone wants to start. But to be behind the guy that does it the best out of everyone—in my opinion, I think, and that’s the opinion of a lot of people—it’s probably the best job you could ask for.”

This is the 29-year-old’s first season behind Realmuto. (He was traded to the Phillies from the Astros, the team that drafted him, last November.) The result has been a crash course in great catching. He says that he’s especially been awed by how much Realmuto prepares each day—both all the material he studies in order to call a game and all the work he does on his body to fulfill the grueling demands of the position.

The defensive skill Stubbs most admires in Realmuto is his pop time to second base. (That’s already been on display in the World Series: He nailed a chance to catch Jose Altuve stealing in Game 2 and then did the same in Game 5 when Jeremy Peña tried to swipe second off Noah Syndergaard, who is the worst pitcher in baseball at holding runners.) But he thinks the most impressive piece of Realmuto’s game might be what he does at the plate. Realmuto was the best-hitting catcher in baseball this year (129 OPS+), and the work it takes to do that, especially when it comes to producing late in games after catching for hours, feels like the most special part of his skillset to Stubbs.

The pitching staff all sings Realmuto’s praises, too. “Such a great catcher, such a great guy, great teammate,” Phillies starter Aaron Nola said after Realmuto won the Gold Glove earlier this week. “To see what he’s done this year behind the plate—obviously one of the most athletic, in my opinion, if not the most in the major leagues—helps me out a lot.” But you don’t have to be a pitcher or a fellow catcher to admire his talent.

“There’s really no other way to say this other than he’s just the real deal,” Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos said. “To be able to catch as much as he does and to be able to perform the way he does and to steal bases and to take the extra base—even to hit an inside-the-park home run as a catcher—it’s really, really impressive, and he’s a hell of an athlete.”

Yet there’s no one in a position to grasp Realmuto’s skill better than Stubbs, even if everything he’s learned from the starter is exactly why he never gets a chance to play.

Earlier this week, Phillies manager Rob Thomson ran down the contributions that everyone on the team made to get to this point—every last guy on the roster had been asked to play this postseason, he said. Well. Except one.

“I think we’ve used everybody on our roster in the World Series,” he said, “except Garrett Stubbs… [We’ll] try to figure out a way to get Garrett in there if we can.”

(Stubbs made the most of whatever playing time he received during the regular season. In 121 plate appearances, he had a 128 OPS+ and hit five home runs, including a walk-off three-run blast against the Marlins on June 15.)

So the backup catcher has instead taken on a few other duties lately. He’s the one in charge of the team celebration playlist—which has gotten a serious workout during the clubhouse parties after each stage of the playoffs so far. (Have there been any songs added in case of a potential World Series celebration? “You’ll have to check back,” Stubbs grins.) This gig might not be as sexy as anything that takes place on the field. But Stubbs takes it seriously, too.

“These guys work their tails off every single day, so me and the other guys on the bench, we just try to bring as much energy as we can to everybody,” Stubbs says. “That’s a role on the team. So we just make sure that everybody’s ready to go.”

And if his number is called? Stubbs will be ready. He’s had a great example to study, after all.

“I get to learn from the best, I get to try to emulate the best,” he says. “To watch him do his thing at the highest level—it’s the best thing.”

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