Former Phillies catcher Andrew Knapp retires from baseball
Three seasons removed from his Phillies tenure, Andrew Knapp has retired from professional baseball, the former catcher announced Sunday on Instagram.
Knapp, the Phillies’ second-round draft pick in 2013, spent nine years in the organization, including five at the big-league level. He slashed .214/.314/.322 in 309 games with the club. He backed up Cameron Rupp for a year, Jorge Alfaro for a year and J.T. Realmuto for three.
A rare switch-hitting catcher, Knapp’s best production came in the 2020 pandemic season, hitting .278/.404/.444 in 33 games as one of the better backups in the game — or, to many, the “BBCIB” himself.
The Phillies outrighted Knapp after the 2021 season, and he went on to spend parts of the next three seasons with seven organizations, earning short big-league stints with three: the Mariners, Pirates and hometown Giants, for whom Knapp rooted while growing up near Sacramento and playing college ball at Cal.
He was perhaps best known for his game-calling, which earned some praise from soon-to-be Cy Young snub Zack Wheeler in 2021.
That aspect of Knapp’s game, along with his clubhouse presence, helped give him a reputation as a future managerial candidate, something that could still be in the cards someday for the 33-year-old.
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