Marchan healthy and trying to seize the best opportunity of his career

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Spring training games begin for the Phillies this weekend, and while there aren't many position battles of intrigue, there are still a few to keep an eye on as Grapefruit League play gets underway.

There's a spot open on the Phillies' bench. Weston Wilson, Kody Clemens, Buddy Kennedy and Cal Stevenson are in the mix for it but Wilson likely has the inside track because of the combination of positional versatility and a right-handed bat.

There's one spot open in the Phillies' bullpen. Contestants include Taijuan Walker, Max Lazar, Devin Sweet, Jose Cuas, Michael Mercado, Kyle Tyler, Koyo Aoyagi, Nick Vespi and probably a few more non-roster invitees.

And there's the backup catcher position, which has been occupied by Garrett Stubbs the last three seasons but might not be in 2025.

Stubbs is back for a fourth season with the Phillies but he has a contract option remaining, which means he can be sent down to the minor leagues without first being passed through waivers.

Rafael Marchan, the other catcher competing to back up J.T. Realmuto, does not have any options left. If he's healthy at the end of spring training and the Phillies do not break camp with him, they'd risk losing him to another team. Another club would almost certainly claim Marchan on waivers because he's a 26-year-old cost-controlled catcher with upside.

"This is the game that I want to play and the team where I want to be, so I just try to enjoy," he said this week at his locker in the Phillies' clubhouse at BayCare Ballpark. "Let things happen. Those decisions are out of my control. Just try to do a good job."

Marchan has been in Clearwater for six weeks. He arrived on January 6 and worked with a trainer for a month before pitchers and catchers started trickling in. He wanted to make sure he was around the right people as spring training neared to best position himself for success. Marchan has missed so much time to injury during his minor-league career, and last spring he was behind schedule at this time because he hurt his back playing winter ball.

"My body's in good shape," he said. "I tried in the offseason to fix everything, working out really well. Just tried to maintain my body. I go through the season, my shoulders and my back, I had a problem with my back last year. I tried to be on top of that and right now, I'm in good position."

Marchan hasn't hit a ton in the minors but has always been heralded for his defensive ability. Surprisingly, when given the opportunity to play in the majors, he's more than held his own at the plate. More exposure and a larger sample size figure to affect the numbers, but through 121 plate appearances across three big-league seasons, Marchan has hit .279/.333/.477 with five homers, a triple and five doubles.

Offense from the backup catcher position will be more important to the Phillies than it was from 2022-24 because they intend to reduce Realmuto's workload. Stubbs, the backup during that time, started 32, 32 and 47 games. If the idea is to limit Realmuto to 110-115 starts rather than the 133 he started in 2022 and 2023 before suffering a meniscus injury in 2024, that's about 70 more plate appearances for the backup catcher than Stubbs' average of 111 as a Phillie. It stands to reason that Stubbs, too, would perform better with more playing time. It's hard to maintain your timing at the plate with three at-bats a week.

"When you go to the big leagues, guys have better command. Don't miss your pitch, that's something I've been working on the last couple years," Marchan said. "The more ABs that you take in the minors, you feel more confident in yourself.”

Defensively, there's a lot to like.

"Really everything," manager Rob Thomson said. "He throws as well as anyone, catches the ball great, he can block, moves around, he's aggressive with back-picks. He's done a lot of work with J.T. and Stubby and Caleb (Cotham), our pitching group. He's done a lot of homework, and now he calls a really good game.

"Intelligent kid. He's not a kid anymore, really intelligent person. I have full confidence in him."

The Phillies have four other catchers in camp for depth purposes — Josh Breaux, Payton Henry, Paul McIntosh and Caleb Ricketts — but will play Marchan and Stubbs a ton over the next six weeks. The biggest key for Marchan will be getting to the end of the Grapefruit League schedule healthy. Injuries over the years to his back, shoulder, hamate bone and hamstring have cost him so much development time.

"We like Marchan a lot," president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said shortly after last season ended. "We think he's a real good catcher. He's shown some offensive prowess also. He's had a lot of injuries, but when he's played, he's played very well."