FanPost Friday: Figuring out the backstops

By now, you know about the conundrum that is bubbling up behind the backstop for the Phillies heading into Spring Training. They are in the enviable spot of having too many options to handle the position. Whether you agree or not that they are effective as starters is your own opinion, but there is no denying each one of Jorge Alfaro, Andrew Knapp and Cameron Rupp is plenty capable of making roughly 90-100 league average starts for the team.

The problem is: who does the team keep? Typically, there is only room for two catchers and one of them will presumably be Alfaro, who is the most talented of the group and the one who is also out of minor league options. That means one of the spots is probably settled, leaving Knapp and Rupp to battle it out for the other roster spot. Ben Harris over at The Athletic laid out a case that Knapp’s ability to win plate appearances by being successful on the margins might give him an edge over Rupp (subscription required). Over in the Fanposts here at The Good Phight, reader “ohhte” broke down his opinion about why Knapp might be the best option to start, let alone make the team.

These are all compelling cases, but Rupp also does have a track record of some success behind the plate. Earlier this offseason, I wrote about how bad the framing was this season for the team, but even if you extrapolate Alfaro’s small sample over the entire season, Rupp might be the “best” the team has when it comes to defense. Plus, there is no doubt that Rupp has a leadership role on this team, and on a squad that just traded its best leader to San Diego, keeping Rupp around in that role is something worth considering.

So I ask you the readers: who are the best two options for the team at catcher for 2018?

As always, please make sure you are respectful in your writing. State your case as best you can with logical points. Even if we, the writing staff, may not be commenting, you can bet that we are reading everything you are putting there. Who knows? The best one might make it up on to the main page.

Until next week....