This past week was tough on Phillies catchers. First, Garrett Stubbs went on the IL with left wrist inflammation and on Friday, the Phillies placed Rafael Marchan on the IL with patellar tendinitis in his left knee. The injury occurred late in Wednesday night’s game against the Dodgers and caused Marchan, who started to give J.T. Realmuto a day off, had to exit the game and was helped down the dugout steps by teammates.
“We were worried about a tear. They haven’t given us a real timetable, but it didn’t sound like it was extended,” manager Don Mattingly told reporters prior to Friday’s game against the Yankees. “I do feel like they’re pretty encouraged, get the inflammation out of there, calm it down, and see where it goes.”
Mattingly also stated that he does not see Stubbs needing extended time on the IL and that his wrist was feeling better after getting treatment over the past few days. Stubbs’ IL stint was backdated to July 18, so he can be activated on Tuesday and Mattingly is hopeful that he will be able to return then or very soon after.
Stubbs’ roster spot was taken by utility outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, who homered for the Phillies in Wednesday night’s game. To take Marchan’s spot, the Phillies recalled catcher Payton Henry, who Mattingly is familiar with from when he managed the Marlins and Henry played there sparingly in 2021 and 2022. His 15 game stint with the Marlins in 2022 was the last time that Henry was in the majors. In 20 MLB games, Henry is a .186/.314/.209 hitter.
With Triple-A Lehigh Valley this season, Henry was hitting .074 in seven games. Henry spent all of last season with Lehigh Valley and signed with the Yankees during the offseason. He hit .224 in 48 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season before being released and re-signing with Philadelphia.
The backup catcher’s spot has been an offensive black hole for the Phillies this season. Stubbs was hitting .179 (5-for-28) and Marchan was batting .102 (9-for-88) when they went on the IL.
The Phillies also have catchers Paul McIntosh (.270/.337/.443) and Lou Albrecht (0-for-1) as catchers on the IronPigs roster, but neither has played in the majors.
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