Garrett Stubbs

Stubbs is from Del Mar, California, and is Jewish.[1][2][3] His parents are T. Patrick and Marti Jo (née Gellens), and his maternal grandmother is Maxine Gellens.[4][5][6] His younger brother, C. J., also played baseball for Torrey Pines, and caught and pitched at USC.[7][8][9][10] C.J. was drafted by the Houston Astros on June 4, 2019, and split the 2019 season between the Class A- Tri-City Valley Cats and the Class A Quad City River Bandits, batting a combined .249/.340/.459 as he played catcher, first base, and outfield.[11][12] His step-grandfather, Fred Shuey, played Minor League Baseball as an outfielder in the 1960s, and had Garrett train with former Major League Baseball catcher Ed Herrmann starting when Garrett was nine years old.[13][14][15]

Stubbs attended Torrey Pines High School in San Diego, California.[4] He was twice named to the All-California Interscholastic Federation team for baseball, and was twice named All-North County and All-Avocado League 1st team.[4] As a senior, he batted .391 with 27 runs, 13 doubles, and 18 RBIs.[4]

Stubbs enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC), where he earned a degree in policy planning and development with an emphasis on real estate, and played college baseball for the USC Trojans.[8][15] In the summer of 2012, he played for the Peninsula Oilers in the Alaska Baseball League.[4][5] In 2013 as a sophomore, he was an Honorable Mention for the All-Pac-12 Conference team.[4] In the summer of 2013, he played for the Plymouth Pilgrims in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, and was named a New England Collegiate Baseball League Eastern Division All-Star.[4] Later that summer he played for the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod League.[4]

After his junior year, when Stubbs became eligible to be selected in the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft, he made it known that he intended to return to college for his senior year.[16] In 2015, his senior year at USC, Stubbs batted .346 (6th in the Pac-12 Conference) and tied for the conference lead in sacrifices (17), while coming in 3rd in steals (20), 5th in runs (51) and OBP (.435), and tied for 7th in doubles (15), as on defense he threw out 52.8% of attempted basestealers and made 3 errors in 468 chances.[17][18] Stubbs won the Johnny Bench Award as the best catcher in college baseball, and was named the Pac-12 Conference's Defensive Player of the Year, Baseball America First-Team All-American, Rawlings First-Team All-American, and Jewish Sports Review College Baseball All American.[19][13][20][2][18]

The Houston Astros selected Stubbs in the eighth round of the 2015 MLB draft. He signed with the Astros for a signing bonus of $100,000, and made his professional debut with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League.[21][22] After 11 games with Tri-City, the Astros promoted Stubbs to the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Class A Midwest League.[23] He batted a combined .263 with seven home runs and 21 RBIs in 36 games with both teams.

In 2016, Stubbs began the season with the Lancaster JetHawks of the Class A-Advanced California League,[16] with whom he was a California League Mid-Season All Star, before receiving a promotion to the Corpus Christi Hooks of the Class AA Texas League in July.[24][25] Stubbs finished 2016 with an aggregate .304 batting average, along with ten home runs and 54 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 18 attempts, while on defense throwing out 51% of attempted base stealers.[24] He was named an milb.com Houston Organization All Star.[24] After the season, the Astros assigned Stubbs to the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League.

In 2017, MLB Pipeline named him the best catcher in the Astros' minor league system, and the organization's 11th-best prospect overall.[26] Stubbs began the season with Corpus Christi, where he batted .236 with four home runs and 25 RBIs. He was a AA Texas League starting All Star, and in the game he tripled and drove in three runs for the winning South.[27][28] Baseball America named him the best defensive catcher in the Texas League.[29] Stubbs was promoted to the Fresno Grizzlies of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League in August, where he posted a .221 batting average with four home runs and 37 RBIs; between the two teams he had 11 stolen bases in 11 attempts.[24]

In 2018, MLB Pipeline named Stubbs the 6th-best prospect overall in the Astros' minor league system.[30][31] He played the 2018 season for Fresno, for whom he was a mid-season Pacific Coast League All Star.[32] He batted .310/.382/.455 with four home runs and 38 RBIs with six stolen bases in six attempts, in 297 at bats, while on defense in threw out 45% of attempted basestealers.[33] The Astros added him to their 40-man roster after the 2018 season.[34]

Stubbs batted .300/.333/.650 in spring training with the Astros in 2019, and was optioned to the team’s minor-league camp on March 9.[35] He began the 2019 season with the Astro's AAA Round Rock Express, and was promoted to the major leagues on May 26.[36] With Round Rock he batted .240/.332/.397 with 7 home runs and 23 RBIs in 204 at bats, as he stole 12 bases in 14 attempts.[37] On defense, he caught 37% of attempted basestealers.[37]

On his 26th birthday, May 26, 2019, Stubbs was called up to the major leagues after Astros catcher Max Stassi was put on the 10-day Injury List.[38] Stubbs made his major league debut two days later, on May 28.[39]

In 2019 he batted .200/.282/.286 with no home runs and 2 RBIs in 35 at bats for the Astros, as he caught 11 games, played left field in seven games, and played right field in one game, was a pinch runner in four games, and was a pinch hitter in three games.[37] He had the fastest sprint speed of all American League catchers, at 28.0 feet/second.[40]

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