Phillies’ and Astros’ Set For Battle of Brothers but unfortunately Phillies report were scary due to…
For the first time ever, brothers Garrett and CJ Stubbs will share a baseball diamond.
Garrett, a catcher with the Philadelphia Phillies, and CJ, a catcher with the Houston Astros, will go head-to-head down at Spring Training on Friday. The two teams are scheduled to face off in a Grapefruit League contest at 1:05 p.m. ET.
The Athletic’s Jayson Stark caught up with the two in Clearwater, Florida, confirming that this was the first time in their lives that they will play a game on the same field at the same time.
The Stubbs brothers were part of the same organization for three years, as Garrett was the Astros’ eighth round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft. The club selected CJ in 2019, the same year Garrett was called up to make his big league debut.
Garrett split the next few years between the MLB and Triple-A levels, while CJ worked his way through the lower ranks.
The pair was never able to suit up together in Houston, though, as Garrett got traded to Philadelphia in November 2021. They never played together at their shared alma mater, USC, either.
Garrett Stubbs is entering his third year as a reserve catcher for the Phillies. Over the last two seasons, Stubbs has appeared in 87 games, batting .233 with six home runs, 28 RBI, a .681 OPS and a 1.2 WAR.
The younger Stubbs brother, meanwhile, has yet to appear in an MLB game. CJ is at big league Spring Training for the second year in a row, currently 0-for-6 with a strikeout in four appearances.
Jose Altuve has solidified himself as one of the best players in the MLB in his 13 seasons with the Houston Astros. He is fast, has a flashy glove, can hit for average, has good power, etc. Altuve is a tremendous baseball player, but before he was with the Astros, he wasn’t looked at as a super promising prospect by most scouts. Astros scout Johan Maya and now bench coach Omar López played a big role in getting Altuve to the big leagues.
Johan Maya made the first suggestion to play Jose Altuve when he was down in Venezuela, but Omar López was a little bit hesitant. He didn’t know if Altuve was ready yet, and he wanted him to get more developed. However, he decided to take a chance and play him, and the rest is history.
