Phillies All-Time Team: Catcher
Below are the top choice and their totals as a member of the Phillies. WAR is used from Baseball-Reference.
- Carlos Ruiz (6+ seasons, 1x All Star): .275 avg, .781 OPS, 52 HR, 299 RBI, 15.2 WAR
- Bob Boone (10 seasons, 3x All Star): .259 avg, .695 OPS, 65 HR, 456 RBI, 11.5 WAR
- Mike Lieberthal (13 seasons, 2x All Star) .275 avg, .783 OPS, 150 HR, 609 RBI, 13.6 WAR
- Darren Daulton (14 seasons, 3x All Star) .245 avg, .783 OPS, 134 HR, 567 RBI, 20.9 WAR
- Andy Seminick (12 seasons, 1x All Star) .244 avg, .770 OPS, 123 HR, 411 RBI, 15.9 WAR
- Stan Lopata (11 seasons, 2x All Star) .257 avg., .814 OPS, 116 HR, 397 RBI, 15.6 WAR
Who we’re voting for:
-Ian Riccaboni: My vote for best Phillies catcher is Stan Lopata. Lopata, like so many other Phillies catchers, such as Leiberthal and Ruiz, lacked longevity but had extreme peaks, and in my opinion, the highest peaks of any Phillies catcher. Lopata’s three year stretch from 1954 through 1956 is better than any other Phillies’ catcher’s best three years and helped him earn the starting job from Seminick. Lopata was pretty putrid defensively but much of that was corrected once he became the first catcher to wear corrective, and tinted, eye wear in the 1950s.
-Ryan Dinger: I Vote for Carlos Ruiz. When this question was first posed, my initial inclination before checking the numbers was to say Darren Daulton was the best catcher in Phillies history. But after researching, it’s hard to argue against Chooch. Not only has he been a stellar defensive catcher, guiding the team through what has been their best era of pitching (and in general), but he has also become a solid offensive player. His career .781 OPS with the team is just two points behind Dutch, and he’s produced nearly double the amount of fWAR per season.
-Jay Floyd: I know that Mike Lieberthal is the best catcher in Phillies organization history. After reviewing those stats, however, it’s easy to see that Liebey topped all others in games caught, HR, RBI, OPS, batting average and nearly all other crucial categories. Despite the fact that his Phils career spanned the exact years between the ’93 pennant winning team and the franchise’s next playoff appearance in 2007, the Phillies’ 1st round draft pick from 1990 should rank atop the list of best catchers in team history.
-Don M.: My vote for Catcher goes to Bob Boone. Bob Boone had little power and even less speed, but what he lacked offensively, Boone more than made up for with the gear on. He managed to produce enough with the bat at the ultimate defense-first position to hold down a starting spot on some of the best teams in the Phillies’ history, including the 1980 World Series Championship team.
-Pat Gallen: My heart says go with Chooch because of everything he’s meant to this team recently. But one of the true leaders over the last 30 years was Darren Daulton. He helped catapult the Phillies to a run in ’93 that will forever stick with me. He was also a pretty good offensive catcher for a few seasons. Perhaps he, and other Phillies, was aided by a little juice, but so what. It was a fun run led by Dutch.
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