Just the other day when I was interviewing Erik Manning of Future Redbirds we got on the topic of Josh Phelps who is now playing for St Louis’ Triple-A team in Memphis. His ears must have been burning.
Despite his advanced age of 30, Phelps is doing his best to make his presence known. Monday night, Phelps had a big league night at AutoZone Park. Hitting two three-run homers, he garnered seven total rbis for the night and was 3 for 5.
The Redbirds pretty much needed all of his production as they won by a 13-11 margin.
Josh Phelps was a highly touted catcher for Toronto in the minors (way back when). Before he got to the majors, knee problems forced him to move to first base but he was still considered a hot prospect. So much so that he landed on the cover of the yearly Baseball Prospectus Handbook. Some superstitious folk say that that was his downfall right then and there.
He did have a promising rookie year hitting .309 with 15 homeruns and followed it up with a solid sophomore season (20 HR, .268). But he never put in a full season and after the first two years, his numbers dipped.
Ironically, in 2005 and 2007 he did put in a few games at catcher for the Rays, Yankees and Pittsburgh.
So now he finds himself playing for Memphis after years of yo-yoing back and forth from the majors and the minors. In 364 at-bats, he’s slugged 20 homers and has driven in 73. Last night was the second time he hit two homeruns in one game for the AAA Redbirds. With Albert playing in the big club and first base (and DH) being his only marketable positions, his only hope would be to used as trade bait.
With his advanced age, sooner is better for the fish to bite.