No one in the Blue Jays clubhouse wants to have this conversation. They shake their heads, nervously avoid eye contact and change the subject as quickly as possible. The Blue Jays aren’t short on good talkers and thoughtful minds, but if you want to see a bunch of confident men clam up, walk around that clubhouse and ask them what would happen if Russell Martin got hurt.

“What would happen?” echoes Kevin Pillar, nervously scanning for wood to knock. “I don’t even like to think about it.”

Martin has been behind the plate for more than 72 percent of the team’s innings this season, calling and catching each pitch, keeping an eye on baserunners, scrambling after pop flies, holding his ground as baseballs ricochet off bats directly into his torso, counselling pitchers in tough spots, giving defensive alignment instructions to infielders, dialoguing with umpires about the strike zone, assessing the microscopic tendencies of opposition hitters, executing plays at the plate—oh, and every few innings, excelling at the not-difficult-at-all task that is hitting major league pitching.

“It’s definitely the hardest position to play in the game,” says Dioner Navarro, a fellow catcher. “Look, no disrespect to anybody, but if you’re playing third base, you just have to think about third base. If you’re playing shortstop, you just have to think about shortstop. But as catchers, we have to think about third base, shortstop, second base, first base, the pitcher, everything. Really, no one on the field has to think and do as much as us. And there’s not many guys who do it all as well as Russ.”

Everyone agrees there’s no replacing Russell Martin. Here’s why.