The summer of 2020 just may be the summer of no return for Houston Astros’ catcher Garrett Stubbs. At best, the Astros will discover a multi-dimensional talent in their midst. At worst, it could bring about the sputtering of a promising career, leaving fans wondering if a catcher could have been a weapon on the bases.

Turning 27 in late May, Stubbs will either be fighting for the backup catching spot this season or bench-warming, occasionally manning one of a couple of different positions. He’ll make the newly-expanded 26-man roster alright, but it would benefit the Astros to finally decide on a more fully-defined career direction for him. He might appreciate it, too.

Is he the backup catcher of the future or a nascent Marwin Gonzalez?

Backstop Update

The Astros signed backup journeyman catcher Dustin Garneau in November. He then joined Stubbs as the only catchers on the 40-man roster. With Robinson Chirinos and Martin Maldonado free agents, the team opted to bring “Machete” back into the fold on a two-year, $7 million contract on December 20.

While the Astros might experience times they’ll carry those three catchers during the season, it’s quite likely they’ll actually break spring camp with them on the Opening Day roster.

Both GM Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch have indicated they’ll use Stubbs in left field in 2020, as they did last season (seven games in left field, one in right). Drafted out of USC in the eighth round of the 2015 draft, the San Diego native made his MLB debut on May 28, two days after his 2019 birthday.

Much like they did with outfielder Myles Straw last season (moving him to shortstop for more flexibility), the Astros will be moving Stubbs around the infield in their never-ending quest for increased player utility.

Stubbs was recruited out of high school as a catcher/middle infielder, and was a leadoff hitting outfielder/catcher as a USC freshman. He played first base in one 2018 game for Houston’s then-AAA Fresno Grizzlies affiliate and second base in five games the following season at Triple-A Round Rock Express (three starts).

For Houston to justify having three catchers on the roster, the left-hand hitting Stubbs will have to become adept at carrying not only these new positional arrows in his quiver of talents but also more gloves in his duffel bag.

The Astros’ History of Creating Careers

The Astros have several striking examples of bold and daring decisions regarding player development over the decades. Recent examples include shoveling inept pitcher Collin McHugh off the waiver scrap heap a week before Christmas in 2013.

Rumbling, bumbling, and stumbling through six years in the New York Mets’ (his 2008 drafting team) and Colorado Rockies’ systems brought about nothing but an 0-8 record, an 8.94 ERA, and 47.1 innings of headache-inducing incompetence.

Swooping in with mounds of data, if not red capes, the Astros rescued McHugh from the jaws of irrelevance and, drooling over his spin rate, turned a big league flameout into a top of the rotation star. He was the Astros’ Rookie of the Year in 2014, coming in fourth in league voting for that honor, and finished his six-year Astros career in 2019 with a 58-35 record and a 3.63 combined ERA. He elected free agency on Halloween.

Collin McHugh: Evolution of a Renaissance Man

MarWin-Win

Toiling in the Chicago Cubs’ system for six years as a middlin’ shortstop, the Astros saw something in the 22-year-old Marwin Gonzalez and swung a trade with the Boston Red Sox (who had claimed him off waivers from the Cubs) to nab him two and a half weeks before Christmas 2011.

The Astros immediately expanded Marwin’s repertoire to include second and third base his first two seasons, adding the outfield in 2014, along with one inning at first base. More games, of course, followed in all the infield positions by 2015, as well as outfield spots, leading Marwin to become, arguably, the premier utility man in all of baseball.

Without the switch-hitting Marwin, the Astros don’t win the 2017 World Series (think inspiring ninth inning game-tying homer in Game 2 off Kenley Jansen).

Ask Collin and Marwin, and they’ll tell you how grateful they are to the Astros for having the foresight and creative vision to believe they each had something to offer no other team in baseball did… or would have.

And, Then There’s Biggio

The Astros, famously, in 1992, brought four-year catcher Craig Biggio out from behind the tools of ignorance to make him their full-time second baseman, beginning a franchise-defining career that culminated in Hall of Fame induction. Interestingly, he too dabbled in the outfield several dozen times between 1989 and 1991, before notably heading back there toward the end of his career.

Biggio’s personal stats in his playing days were 5’11”, 185 pounds; Stubbs is listed as an inch shorter, and 10 pounds lighter. The reason Biggio was moved from catcher (and he was an All-Star at the position in 1991) to second base was to save his quick, base-stealing legs.

Had it not been for Astros’ coach Matt Galante, late in the 1991 season, proposing a move to second for Biggio in an attempt to relieve his legs from the punishment of the catcher position, then Biggio might have had an entirely different career arc… and possibly no Hall of Fame induction.

Related: Stubbs… Astros’ Biggio 2.0?

When Glove Takes Over

Biggio’s career stolen base percentage was 77% (414 out of 538 attempts). Stubbs’ career minor league SBP is 90% (47 out of 52). No offense to Stubbs, but if his catching skills were all-world, we’d probably know it by now.

Granted, he was the Johnny Bench Award winner (best collegiate catcher) and was named the Pac 12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 at USC, but I would argue his overall projectable talent (including baserunning) suggests, if not dictates, that the Astros nudge Stubbs out of the catching gear and spend Spring Training playing him more in the outfield, and at some of those infield positions.

And, dare I say exclusively? He can always work out at catcher to keep those skills sharp and always be available in an emergency. It’s hard to imagine anyone but Garneau and Maldonado as the frontline catching core this year, barring injury. It seems pointless, this year, to do nothing more with Stubbs than to have him duke it out with Garneau for the backup catching role.

He may never amount to another Marwin, but we’ll never know until Houston puts him to the test. I’m not Stubbs’ agent, but it’d be a shame if a gifted runner (who may turn into a proficient big league hitter) continued to play a position which, in time, will eventually erode that talent.

The Astros deserve to see if they’ve got a player who’s bursting at the seams with multi-positional skills. I’d think Garrett would be curious, too.

Where’s Matt Galante when you need him?