Phillies news and rumors 3/8: Garrett Stubbs to face off with brother C.J. in Spring Training

Move over, Nick vs. Phil Maton.

The Phillies and Astros will provide a new brother vs. brother matchup on Friday. Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs will square off against his brother, Astros catcher C.J. Stubbs — and as MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reported, the family will be on hand to take it in.

C.J., who came out of the University of Southern California in 2019, four years after Garrett did, spent all but one game in the 2023 season at Double-A Corpus Christi. C.J. struggled offensively in the minor league season but compiled an .823 OPS the year before, almost evenly split between High-A and Double-A. He’s a non-roster invitee to Astros Spring Training this year, as he was last year.

C.J. has seen limited action this spring, with six at bats to date. But the Phillies and Astros coordinated a Maton vs. Maton at bat in Game 162 a couple years ago (with Nick’s single prompting a locker punch that sidelined Phil for the entire postseason). Current Astros manager Joe Espada was Houston’s bench coach at the time.

Now in Spring Training — with the stakes even lower than they were in Game 162, both teams having already clinched a playoff spot and their playoff seeds set in stone — it seems awfully reasonable for Rob Thomson and Espada to arrange another sibling matchup. The obvious candidate to pitch would be Garrett, who’s a lock for the Phillies’ backup catcher job already and even has 3 2/3 innings of MLB pitching experience under his belt.

C.J. and Garrett are both listed as reserves for their respective teams and could get in the game once the starters leave.

Head-to-head matchup or not, though, it’ll be a cool moment for older and younger brother alike.

“I’ve been looking forward to it,” C.J. said, per McTaggart, “since the Spring Training schedule came out.”

Must-read Phillies content

• Will Aaron Nola start on Opening Day once again for the Phillies? Tim Kelly breaks down that very question, which may ultimately come down to a Nola not named Aaron.
• Tim also brings the Phillies’ roster for the inaugural Spring Breakout, headlined by a few first-rounders.
• Zack Wheeler is hoping to improve on a particular platoon split with the help of a new pitch, as Destiny Lugardo writes.
• Matt Gelb of The Athletic previewed the Phillies’ minor-league hitters to watch this season, most of whom reside in the lower levels.

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