Philadelphia Phillies: Andrew Knapp is just horrendous

While the Philadelphia Phillies have a lot of issues, backup catcher Andrew Knapp has particularly stuck out for his horrendous play.

Let’s get right to it.

There is simply no sugar coating how bad Andrew Knapp has been for the Philadelphia Phillies, and his poor performance is a byproduct of both his lack of talent and the awkward role on the team that the Phillies have forced him to occupy.

Despite remaining healthy for the entire season to this point, Knapp has collected only 100 at-bats (and 120 plate appearances), thanks to J.T. Realmuto having played the most games in the league at the catcher position and also having far and away the most at-bats among backstops. Such sporadic playing time for Knapp has produced terrible results.

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I appreciate how difficult it is to start once a week at most and be your best self at the plate, but Knapp’s ghastly .190 batting average is still inexcusable. Additionally, he’s posted one home run and a measly four RBI so far on the year. Dozens of players have hit grand slams in 2019 and collected as many RBI in one swing as Knapp has in almost five months.

It’s a thankless job being a backup catcher, and a low average is often part of the deal. Not .190 low, granted, but you could almost tolerate a player looking like he’s swinging a wet noodle every time he comes to the plate if he at least made up for it with rock-solid defense.

Knapp doesn’t do that, either.

He neither plays league-average defense behind the dish nor does he throw out runners attempting to steal at a rate equal to his peers. And he’s monumentally worse than Realmuto, who leads the league in nailing would-be base stealers.

This means that every time the Phillies rest Realmuto and start Knapp, they sacrifice an almost immeasurable amount of offense and defense. By definition, a backup catcher isn’t going to be as good in any area as the starter, but not to this extent.

Partly because of Knapp’s shortcomings, Realmuto has been pressed into more work than he should have been this year, something that could have long-term wear-and-tear effects on him. As a result, the Phillies are putting themselves in a difficult spot for a potential contract negotiation with Realmuto, who will be a free agent after next season.

The bigger the numbers he produces, the more he will ask for, and rightly so. And the Phillies will find themselves without a leg to stand on and without a viable replacement for such a big part of their lineup, both offensively and defensively.

Frankly, the team should have seen this coming months ago. The Phillies had a few veteran catching options in camp, namely Drew Butera and Rob Brantly. These guys aren’t world-beaters by any means, but their experience would have allowed them to function more proficiently in the backup role behind a workhorse like Realmuto than the floundering Knapp has.

But Knapp is young and cheap, and the Phillies were betting that he could at least improve on last year’s .198 batting average while developing a greater rapport with the team’s pitchers. Instead, he has been bad in every sense, including as a pinch hitter, a situation where he is just 6 for 30 with one RBI so far this year.

The mere fact that Knapp is the team’s second-most frequently used pinch hitter this season behind Nick Williams speaks to a greater problem of the team’s poor roster construction and Gabe Kapler’s inability to use a bench properly when it doesn’t involve weights.

It’s not Knapp’s fault that he’s been called on so often. And at least he’s hitting .200 in those situations, which is an upgrade. But he scares no one, and he should be tacked to the bench except in an emergency. Not everybody can be Paste from Nintendo’s Bases Loaded, but come on.

I actually have an embarrassing confession to make. I didn’t even realize that Knapp is a switch hitter. I’m serious; this went completely over my head.

He comes to the plate so infrequently that I feel like I have only ever seen him bat left-handed. But some research shows that he has had 29 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers this year, and 113 plate appearances against southpaws where he has hit right-handed in his major league career so far.

I don’t pretend to watch every at-bat of every Phillies game, but this has never registered with me. I’m also not discounting the possibility that I have been watching on numerous occasions that he has come to the plate right-handed, but I decided to change the channel or leave the room to do something else for a few minutes because I counted him as an automatic out.

With apologies to the Knapp family, there is nothing redeeming about him as a major league player. He’s also blocking Deivy Grullon, who is slugging at AAA, from getting his feet wet in the big leagues. Knapp isn’t to blame here either, but it’s yet another annoying part of this whole situation.

I wish him the best personally, but I truly hope that Andrew Knapp’s days in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform are soon coming to an end. The team has a lot of work to do for next year, but one easy fix is to stop trying to convince us that Knapp offers any value to a major league club.

Give me Dane Sardinha. Give me Paul Bako. Give me Grullon or someone who can competently fill in for Realmuto from time to time so that he doesn’t break down.

Next. Series loss to Marlins comes at terrible time for Phillies. dark

Just don’t give me any more Andrew Knapp.

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