Philly Front Office

In the first half of today’s doubleheader against the Braves, Rafael Marchan had himself a game.  He hit a 2 run dinger, was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and threw 2 runners out at 2^nd.  We don’t win today if he isn’t playing.  I’m an opportunist, but other than maybe this morning, there is not a better time to write something about Rafael Marchan.

Through most of this season, fans have been clamoring for lovable DJ Garrett Stubbs to reclaim his backup catcher throne behind JT Realmuto.  Any time Marchan starts and doesn’t get a hit, the sky is falling.  It’s annoying.  Even though it only comes up about once per week, I still want to set the record straight.

To start the season, the reasoning for Marchan getting the major league backup gig over Stubbs was that Stubbs had a minor league option left.  This means they could send him to AAA without having to put him on waivers, possibly losing him. The same couldn’t be said for Marchan. He was going to be in the Majors either with the Phillies or somewhere else. This isn’t the only reason though.  Marchan had been slated for this job for years.  Unfortunately, he is unluckier than the Sixers.  He debuted in 2020 briefly, was slightly less brief in 2021, and then didn’t see the Majors again until last season.  In that nearly 3-year gap he battled hamstring issues, a fractured hamate bone, visa issues, and ineffectiveness.   He finally made it back, but it seems like the fans want to take it from him.

This season he is batting .152/.317/.242.  It’s pretty bad, not trying to hide that.  However, this is in only 33 at bats.  He has only appeared in 13 games and it’s damn near June.  That simply isn’t much of a sample.  Behind that bad triple slash though is a rather nice 7 walks to only 7 strikeouts.  He has not only been comically unlucky so far according to his .160 BABIP, but the Phillies are not putting him in positions to succeed.  Marchan is a switch hitter.  So far in the majors, he has shown a much stronger penchant for hitting righty, a .816 OPS versus a .669 OPS.  Still, the Phillies have him batting almost exclusively left-handed.  JT is a righty so he is the one to face the lefties (even though he hasn’t hit them for shit this season). It’s worse than that though.  This season, the Phillies have faced several pitchers with reverse splits.  Despite me knowing this, the Phillies still have Marchan bat lefty against these righties: 

• 5/22 v Rockies:  Righty German Marquez gives up a .893 OPS to righties…Marchan batted from the left and went 0-3
• 5/9 v. Guardians:  Righty Gavin Williams gives up a .340 average and .896 OPS to righties, but .170 and .638 to lefties…Marchan batted from the left and went 0-3
• 5/1 v. Nationals: Righty Brad Lord gives up a .847 OPS to righties and .699 to lefties…Marchan batted from the left and went 0-3
• 4/11 v. Cardinals:  Righty Andre Pallante gives up an .812 OPS to righties and .695 to lefties…Marchan batted from the left and went 0-3

So not only is he better from the right, but the Phillies are refusing to let him hit from the right against guys who get torched by righties!  Writing about these games made me feel like I was taking crazy pills.  It just seemed like hardheaded managing to me.

Everyone loves Garrett Stubbs.  His slight frame makes people feel like they could be the ones playing backup catcher.  He’s an everyman.  I get it.  Those same people tough forget one very important thing:  he’s not that good.  In his 433 plate appearances over 3 years for the Phillies, he is triple slashing .222/.305/.324.  He was especially bad last season with a .558 OPS (Marchan so far this season is .559 btw).  The strikeouts are about 3x more frequent than his walks and I should mention that today Marchan tied Stubbs’ season total for HRs the last two years with 1.

The most important thing here is that Stubbs turned 32 this week.  Marchan turned 26 in February.  Even if you want to make everything else a tie (that’s being generous), this is a significant advantage to Marchan.  Throw in that he has 3 years of control left compared to 1 of Stubbs and this is a no brainer.  This isn’t a tie though.  Marchan has never seen an extended stay in the majors and his worst seems to be Stubbs’ best.  This is not a battle, everyone just needs to give Marchan a chance and put their nostalgia and their vicarious dreams to the side.  Hopefully today shows everyone that the Phillies made the right decision.