Categories: Features

Garrett Stubbs bat-spiked and DJ’d his way to fan favorite status in 2022. He’s ready for ‘new memories’ in 2023

Garrett Stubbs is entering his second season with the Phillies. (Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire)

You’ve seen the image plenty by now: Game 3. The three-run homer, at least 10 rows deep. Citizens Bank Park in a frenzy.

The bat spike.

If recollections of Rhys Hoskins and the 2022 NLDS came to mind first, well, it’s hard to blame you. But the above anecdote doesn’t only pertain to him. Because when Hoskins slammed his bat into the ground following that memorable moonshot off Spencer Strider and the Atlanta Braves on Oct. 14, he was, intentionally or not, emulating a teammate who made the bat spike cool — four months minus a day earlier.

“That’s gonna be a Philly thing,” Garrett Stubbs told Phillies Nation on Saturday, “for a long time coming.”

Home run No. 3 of Stubbs’ career, as well as his third in his past five games, came on June 15, the rubber match of a three-game home series against the Miami Marlins. The Phillies were one strike away from losing that series, a shutout for their third loss in four games since the end of the winning streak that kicked off the Rob Thomson era.

With Kyle Schwarber — the June version, no less — on deck, Stubbs’ goal was to simply extend the game. Technically, he failed.

And thus, the bat spike was born.

“It was an original move right when I did it, and it was fun and a genuine reaction of just as much excitement as possible,” Stubbs said, a few minutes after hitting a single while wearing Phillies socks at a University of Southern California alumni game. “So watching [Rhys] get to do it in the playoffs in a big spot only just made it more of a Philly thing.”

It was the biggest individual moment of an inaugural season in Philadelphia that went about as well as Stubbs could have drawn up. Traded from the Houston Astros in November 2021 before the lockout, Stubbs’ assignment was simple: Back up a three-time All-Star who would wind up finishing the year seventh in MVP voting.

“It’s always good to be — if you’re gonna be the backup — be the backup to the best one in the league,” Stubbs said. “And probably the best one in the league by [a significant margin].”

Maybe there’s something to that. Stubbs flourished in the role, hitting .264 with an .812 OPS and scattering his first five career home runs across just 32 starts — despite a reputation dating back to his college days as a glove-oriented backstop. (To that end, Stubbs also threw out 28% of would-be base stealers, above the leaguewide rate.) He even pitched four times.

Stubbs had established himself as a fan favorite in Year 1 even before the postseason. Known as the team “hype man” in Houston, Stubbs assumed similar stature in Philadelphia, despite the lockout and an expedited Spring Training limiting his ability to familiarize himself with his new teammates before the season began.

“I think it’s just my personality,” Stubbs said of how he integrated himself in the clubhouse as quickly as he did. “I enjoy the game. I enjoy being around a locker room full of guys trying to win, and that’s what we had there. And it was a group of dudes that enjoyed being around each other … And so to walk into that kind of atmosphere and be able to be myself and enjoy the game that I enjoy playing every single day, with those kind of guys, it was an easy fit for me.”

His clubhouse role took on a new life in the postseason. Stubbs, famously, authored the “Phils Win” playlist — headlined, of course, by “Dancing On My Own” — that reverberated around Citizens Bank Park (and the city at large) throughout the World Series run.

DJ’ing was one of several uncommon attributes Stubbs brought to the 2022 Phillies. Another: postseason experience. Granted, Stubbs wasn’t the only Phillie who’d played playoff baseball before, but he was one of few.

For him, though, nothing about his demeanor or approach to the game changed when the postseason rolled around.

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Stubbs said that’s the whole point.

“We like to have fun and be loose and mess around while we’re playing. So I kept that same mentality going into playoffs,” Stubbs said. “And I think there were other experienced playoff guys — while not many — like Schwarber, who kept that same mentality and understood that when you get into these big moments, make sure that you still stay loose and enjoy the moment and have fun playing. ‘Cause it can happen fast when you’re in the playoffs and you’re out real quick. So might as well have fun while you’re doing it.”

“Fun” — that’s something Stubbs expects to resume when World Series gives way to World Baseball Classic. Stubbs will be representing Team Israel in this year’s event, one of a few Phillies headed to Phoenix, Miami, Tokyo and/or Taichung in early March.

Team Israel might not draw the crowds that, say, the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico will in the U.S., if only due to proximity. But from what Stubbs has heard of competing in the World Baseball Classic and the Olympics, the feeling of representing an entire nation is one that resonates.

“I’m looking forward to the energy,” Stubbs said. “I’ve heard it’s a lot different as far as people going out there and really enjoying the pride of their country … So being able to see a whole country behind whether it’s Israel or Puerto Rico or the Dominican, I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”

The Classic will end on March 21, and then it’s back to Spring Training, where Stubbs (along with another WBC participant in Realmuto) will begin the work of anchoring a pitching staff that only got deeper in the offseason.

Stubbs said he’s looking forward to catching new bullpen acquisitions Craig Kimbrel and Gregory Soto — a “long-time reliever who has played in huge, huge games” and “a monster,” respectively. Stubbs compared Soto to José Alvarado, another lefty flamethrower, and said he’s confident Soto will take a step forward in 2023 — much like Alvarado did last season.

If that prediction is correct, it would certainly boost the Phillies’ odds of getting back to the playoffs for the second consecutive year, after 10 seasons of October-less baseball in Philadelphia. The pressure of simply getting to the playoffs was something Stubbs said he could sense around the team in 2022 — whether in the manager, the locker room or the front office. That pressure, of course, is now gone. Stubbs said the Phillies have proven they can make a run.

“Going into this year with that experience — you know, sky’s the limit for us,” Stubbs said.

The plan — as it was last year — is to win the division; Stubbs said he’s looking forward to what should be a tight race in a “powerhouse” NL East.

As for the playlist? The World Series ended more than three months ago. Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in a mere eight days. It begs a series of questions: What’s the playlist’s future? Does its creator still listen to it?

Stubbs is choosing to toe the line between nostalgia and innovation.

“Yes, I have played it. For sure. I mean, it brings back a whole ton of great memories. So why wouldn’t I play it?” Stubbs said. “But, you know, that specific playlist will probably stay in 2022. I think that one’ll be a gem for a lot of people, to remind them of all the great things that happened to Philadelphia during that year.

“We’ll make new memories this year. I promise. It’ll be a lot of good ones, too.”