There may come a day when Houston Astros’ catcher Garrett Stubbs will be known as CJ Stubbs‘ brother, but for the time being, the newly-drafted backstop is routinely referred to as Garrett’s brother.

After all, Stubbs the elder, the first-string catcher for Houston’s Triple-A Round Rock Express, just finished a three-week promotion to the Astros. Garrett, Houston’s 11th-ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, was called up to bolster the big league team’s catching ranks after Max Stassi succumbed to injury and was sent back down after the latter was recently reinstated.

In fact, CJ, barely a week before his draft day, was in attendance with parents T. Patrick and Marti Jo at Minute Maid Park for Garrett’s MLB debut, May 28.

Their parents were actually on a plane leaving Corvallis, Oregon, where they had just watched CJ play his final game of the season for USC, while Garrett was frantically trying to text and call them to tell them about his promotion. Once they got Wi-Fi working on their flight, they were able to get the news from Garrett, according to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.

There Must Be a Draft

CJ’s June has been just as hectic, and arguably more celebratory than Garrett’s. He was selected by Houston in the 10th round of the MLB draft on June 4, the annual event’s second day, and made his pro baseball debut just days after. He signed for an $85,000 bonus, some $57,000 under his pick value of just over $142,000.

Happy to sign with big brother’s team (even at a bit of a “discount”), CJ was ecstatic to keep following in Garrett’s footsteps, as he has since grade school in Del Mar, California.

CJ hit a home run in each of his first two games with Houston’s short season Class A Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League, June 20 & 21. In fact, those homers accounted for two of his first three hits, and he’s collected at least one hit in each of his first four games, resulting in a .333 batting average after 15 at-bats, through June 23.

Cameron Joseph Stubbs

Like big brother, CJ attended USC and was quite accomplished as a pitcher, as well as excelling behind the plate. This would explain CJ’s high marks from scouts about his rifle of an arm.

Also like Garrett, CJ attended the San Diego area’s Torrey Pines High School and even tossed a shutout in his senior year. But, it’s with the “tools of ignorance” that Garrett has proven to be little brother’s biggest influence.

At the plate, in two years (2014 and 2015) for the Torrey Pines Falcons, CJ combined to hit .326, with four homers, and 22 RBIs in 141 ABs.

“We’re Different Players”

“Garrett and I are as close as brothers can be,” CJ told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2015. “Maybe because we have the perfect age difference [3 1/2 years], we’ve never fought. He has always been my mentor, my hero.

“He helped me learn the catching position,” CJ concluded, grateful for his solid 6’3″, 200-pound size. “In my unbiased opinion, he’s the best defensive catcher in college baseball.”

Garrett is free to heap praise on little brother, as well, although a dig here and there can’t go unnoticed. “CJ and I have had opportunity, but we do appreciate it,” the 5’10”, 175-pound Garrett once said. “We’re different players, and trust me, I bust his chops about how he got the size and genes from our parents.

“We both know we wouldn’t be here without the instruction we got and the support of our parents.”

“A Bit of a Late Bloomer”

Both brothers have had the benefit of expert influence and inspiration, learning to catch under the tutelage of the late Ed Herrmann, a fellow San Diego-area native who played 11 years in the big leagues, including three (1976-1978) with the Astros.

Fred Shuey, the brothers’ step-grandfather, played at San Diego High, USC, and in the minor leagues with the likes of Cincinnati Reds’ stars Johnny Bench, Bernie Carbo, and Hal McRae, the latter two leaving for other teams just before Cincy’s Big Red Machine mid-1970s era.

“Fred has been a major influence, comes to every game,” Garrett told the Union-Tribune.

Garrett and CJ said they both benefited from playing for former Torrey Pines coach Matt Chess, while CJ also played for former MLB pitcher (California Angels, Chicago White Sox, 1985-1996) and current Torrey Pines head coach, Kirk McCaskill, winner of 106 big league games.

“CJ is a little bit of a late bloomer,” McCaskill once told reporters before CJ attended USC. “He’s just starting to get his ‘man moves.’ He has great game awareness. He has all the intangibles, a great passion for the game. He has an energy and a joy for the game that you can’t teach.”

At the University of Southern California, CJ, a business admin major at the school, once described himself solely as a pitcher as recently as his 2017 sophomore campaign: “I’m a pitcher. I used to catch, but now I stick to pitching,” he eagerly told the LATS Legacy Foundation, moments after they feted him with an academic excellence award.

It was shortly after that event that CJ, the pitcher, underwent Tommy John surgery, thus ending a career on the mound as well as his 2018 season, but facilitating a new direction on the diamond. This may end up explaining the rationale for the Astros to keep the 22-year-old “in the organizational oven” for what may seem a little longer than usual.

Nevertheless, CJ’s lone season of 2019 provided virtually all of his college batting stats (we won’t count his eight at-bats in 2016). In his 214 PAs, this past Pac-12 season, CJ slashed to a .279/.370/.470 line, with 11 doubles, three triples, and six homers, with four steals in six attempts. He struck out 40 times against 18 walks.

If the Houston brass considers CJ something of a long-term position player project, it’ll be up to the relatively new catcher to change their minds. But, with his quick start out of the organizational gate, he’s well on his way to changing his tag from “project” to “prospect.”

“I’m confident he’ll make his own name when he gets here,” said the brother of the Houston Astros’ new catching prospect, CJ Stubbs.