It might sound crazy, but Aaron Nola is one of the most important players on the Philadelphia Phillies. The future Wall of Famer has fallen on hard times in recent years, and looked all but cooked after a wretched first half this season. However, Nola hasn’t just become somewhat useful again recently; he’s turned the clock all the way back to his days of being a top-flight starter. Some of the credit for that turnaround is owed to personal catcher Garrett Stubbs, which should have the Phils considering swapping him in for stalwart J.T. Realmuto in Nola’s playoff starts.
Stubbs is not a particularly impressive baseball player. The 33-year-old has a lifetime .581 OPS across 580 trips to the plate, and has been substantially worse this year with a putrid .387 mark over 59 plate appearances. His flaccid bat has prevented him from being anything more than a bench player, but the Phillies have valued his clubhouse presence and Swiss Army knife applications off the bench in his half-decade with the organization.
Conversely, the Phils have employed perhaps the greatest backstop in franchise history for the past eight years: J.T. Realmuto. The Oklahoman has racked up multiple All-Star appearances, Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Awards and Gold Gloves throughout his tenure in red pinstripes, and was rewarded with a three-year, $45 million contract this past offseason.
Unfortunately, the 35-year-old Realmuto is a far cry from his formerly elite self these days, considering his .635 OPS in 2026 can’t hold a candle to his .765 career mark. Age is certainly the dominant factor in Realmuto’s decline, but overuse isn’t helping as the workhorse has spent a whopping 11,877 innings behind the plate in his career, less than 100 frames behind Salvador Perez for the most among active catchers.
The Phillies have been using Stubbs as Nola’s personal catcher over the past few months, and it seems to be doing wonders for all involved. Realmuto obviously stands to benefit from more regular rest, while Nola has been lights out since the calendar flipped to August.
In seven starts since then, the 33-year-old has fired 41 innings of 2.41 ERA ball, punching out 46 batters along the way. All but one of those starts have come with Stubbs shepherding him from behind the plate, the lone exception being the nationally-televised Field of Dreams Game.
Garrett Stubbs and Aaron Nola's fruitful relationship should continue into Phillies' postseason run
The duo spoke to OnPattison’s Anthony SanFilippo last weekend about the current arrangement, with each man paying homage to the other. “Stubby’s great,” Nola said. “We have a good relationship and we talk a lot… We sit by each other on the plane, so we obviously have a lot of time to talk to each other.”
Stubbs felt similarly, explaining, “it’s kind of like a marriage. You’re not on the same page all the time, but you’re with each other no matter what. So you figure out when you’re not on the same page how you’re going to be amicable about how you’re going to attack a guy. We’re like an old married couple that way.”
While both Nola and Stubbs have been with the Phillies for years now, it seems the seeds of this special on-field pairing were planted last season during Nola’s rehab stint in Triple-A Lehigh Valley. “We’ve been on the same page a lot, but more so this year,” Nola said. “Rehabbing down there last year when he caught me helped a lot too.” Whatever the reason behind Nola’s renewal, the Phillies need him to keep it up.
The club’s greatest strength heading into a playoff series is their starting rotation. Zack Wheeler, Jesús Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez form the best trio in the sport, and if Nola continues pitching the way he has been, the rotation could will the team to victory in any given best-of-seven series.
It’s that last part that’s so crucial. Nola may look like his old self lately, but is that guaranteed to continue? Every Phillies fan has seen what a struggling Aaron Nola looks like and it’s not good. If having Garrett Stubbs behind the dish helps him return to his previous form then there’s no need to rock the boat.
If Realmuto was still the Realmuto of old it would be a much harder decision to make. However, the veteran just isn’t the same offensive force he used to be. He’s still far superior to Stubbs at the plate, but that says far more about Stubbs than it does Realmuto.
The truth is, the catcher’s spot is not going to give the Phillies much offense in October. The most important thing the Phils can do is put their pitchers in the best position they can to succeed. If that means giving Garrett Stubbs a handful of playoff starts, so be it.
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