Three seasons removed from his Phillies tenure, Andrew Knapp has retired from professional baseball, the former catcher announced Sunday on Instagram.
Knapp, the Phillies’ second-round draft pick in 2013, spent nine years in the organization, including five at the big-league level. He slashed .214/.314/.322 in 309 games with the club. He backed up Cameron Rupp for a year, Jorge Alfaro for a year and J.T. Realmuto for three.
A rare switch-hitting catcher, Knapp’s best production came in the 2020 pandemic season, hitting .278/.404/.444 in 33 games as one of the better backups in the game — or, to many, the “BBCIB” himself.
The Phillies outrighted Knapp after the 2021 season, and he went on to spend parts of the next three seasons with seven organizations, earning short big-league stints with three: the Mariners, Pirates and hometown Giants, for whom Knapp rooted while growing up near Sacramento and playing college ball at Cal.
He was perhaps best known for his game-calling, which earned some praise from soon-to-be Cy Young snub Zack Wheeler in 2021.
That aspect of Knapp’s game, along with his clubhouse presence, helped give him a reputation as a future managerial candidate, something that could still be in the cards someday for the 33-year-old.
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