The Phillies have designated catcher Rob Brantly for assignment among a series of roster moves, the team reports.
Brantly’s contract was selected yesterday by Philly, presumably to hold down the weekend fort with catcher J.T. Realmuto away on paternity leave. In 182 plate appearances for AAA-Lehigh Valley in ’19, the former Tiger and Marlin farmhand has turned in one of his best seasons yet. The lefty’s walked more than he’s struck out so far in the International League, posting a stellar .306/.401/.452 line for the club.
He’ll likely go unclaimed on waivers, but the offensive gestation period for a catcher can be lengthy, and it’s possible Brantly has now positioned himself as a legitimate MLB backup option. In 429 career plate appearances with the White Sox and Marlins, Brantly’s paired a .229/.294/.332 (72 wRC+) slash with unseemly defensive metrics behind the plate.
If Brantly has those numbers in AAA… Then why isn’t Knapp DFA??? 3/5 of the starting rotation are better hitters than Knapp.
Makes no sense. What is this fo doing? Knapp is one of the worst players in the league.
I do know anything about Knapp, but perhaps he has good defensive metrics? Just a thought
Unfortunately, Not good enough to make up for his embarrassing slash line.
who cares when JT is calling a great game, framing amazingly, and catching 50% of base stealers. they dont need a good defender as a backup, and Knapp certainly not that anyway.
Tigers could use him back
shouldve just sent knapp down. id rather him be dfa’ed, but that’s not happening
That’s a shame. I like the way he points at the camera in that picture. Especially with those too cool for school sunglasses. Most major leaguers could learn a lot from a guy like that.
the Allentown morning call has a cool article on him. apparently he’s a wacky dude. hopefully they can keep him in AAA.
Lol
This whole thing seems weird… like why bring him up for only one game and then be forced to designate him for assignment. If nothing else they could have brought up a different catcher for emergency purposes with Realmuto on paternity leave so they wouldn’t have to risk losing the Red hot (in AAA) Brantley. Unless they really just have no interest in him contributing at the ML level — which honestly seems a little strange based on how impressive he has been thus far at AAA… if nothing else you’d think they might even be able to coax another team to trade international bonus $ or a long-shot prospect for him… given how many teams out there have scuffling offensive catching situations.
Time for him to join the Reds.
He had one at bat and struck out. He was called up because of Realmuto’s paternity leave.
Knapp needs to go.