Looking back at the 2024 season, the Philadelphia Phillies had a tough time behind the plate with J.T. Realmuto hobbled by a wonky knee that required him to miss time after undergoing surgery. The Phillies were forced to use backup Garrett Stubbs more than usual and gave third-string Rafael Marchán a look while Realmuto was on the shelf.
Regardless of how the trio performed at the plate, catchers are also evaluated for their skills behind the dish. This is especially true for backstops who don’t have the offensive chops of a Realmuto.
The good news is that the Phillies’ three catchers excelled in one important defensive metric this past season. The bad news is that they struggled in two other key areas.
Let’s start with the positive. The three catchers employed at the major league level in 2024 ranked among the best at getting the ball to second base on steal attempts, better known as the pop time metric.
What is pop time? According to Baseball Savant, “Pop time measures the time from the moment the pitch hits the catcher’s mitt to the moment the ball reaches the fielder’s projected receiving point at the center of the base.”
Realmuto tied for the top spot with San Francisco Giants defensive whiz Patrick Bailey with a 1.85-second pop time — not bad for a 33-year-old. If you’re curious, the league average pop time to second base is 2.0 seconds.
Marchán finished seventh, in a tie for the second-fastest pop time at 1.87 seconds, although in a decidedly small sample size of six attempts. Stubbs, meanwhile, was right there in ninth with the third-fastest pop time of 1.88 seconds.
Blocking and framing weren’t areas of strength
Now for the bad news. Phillies catchers struggled in the the other two big catching metrics: blocking and pitch framing.
The blocks above average metric measures a catcher’s skill at preventing wild pitches or passed balls. Stubbs ranked 37th overall with -1 blocks above average and 16 passed balls and wild pitches. Realmuto ranked 43rd with -2 BAA and 32 passed balls and wild pitches.
Framing is the art of receiving a pitch in a way that makes it more likely to be called a strike and is measured by the Statcast catcher framing runs stat. Stubbs ranked 39th with -2 CFR, and Realmuto ranked 41st with -3 CFR.
Marchán didn’t have enough pitches to qualify for either of the BAA of CFR leaderboards. For reference, he finished with +2 BAA and 0 CFR in his limited sample.
What can the Phillies do about this? Well, realistically, not much. They have the catchers they have and will again rely on Realmuto as the primary backstop in 2025, although they will attempt to cut back his playing time.
Whether we see Stubbs or Marchán as the MLB backup remains to be seen. Marchán has the better bat and, according to Statcast, plays better defense. However, with past struggles to stay healthy and being out of options, the Phillies’ inability to shuttle him to Triple-A as needed is a problem. This will be a spring training battle to keep an eye on.
