Special to the Sun
By Jack Nuckols
There are a ton of reasons why the Phillies haven’t been fun to watch lately. A lot of people have just stopped even bothering. If you’re thinking about that too, let me stop you for a second. There are many ways the Phillies could be interesting.
My favorite: young talent. A lot of the young Phillies have interesting stories and are very easy to root for. One of these unique players is catcher Cameron Rupp.
The young Philly is already starting games and could make the Phillies a little more fun.
Rupp grew up in Texas. He was a hard worker and he needed to be.
“You didn’t have everything given to you,” Rupp said. “You had to work out in the heat.”
He grew up a Rangers fan, and idolized his parents and Pudge Rodriguez. In fact, his father played for the Expos in the 80s. In 2007, Rupp was drafted in the 43rd round by the Pirates, but he chose to play ball at the University of Texas instead of the minor leagues. After playing at Texas for four years, the Phillies drafted him in the third round out of college. He made his big league debut in 2014, where he went 1 for 4 against the Padres.
Rupp’s minor league experience was long and hard. He played with six teams over five years, with stints in the Major League Baseball. After ending last season with the Phillies, there was a question whether he would start with them this year, and once again he prevailed. Now he is the backup catcher and starts a decent amount of games, 17 games as of June 6.
“Keep on, keepin’ on,” Rupp said.
That is the key to his work ethic, to keep going.
“The most important thing I do is go to the ballpark every day and get better,” Rupp said.
If you are watching Rupp on TV, there are three things you need to observe:
1. Is he shutting down the run game?
Usually the answer is yes. If you look up Cameron Rupp highlights, a lot of them are of him throwing out runners — and good ones. In fact, Rupp, as of May 14, had thrown out 54 percent of base runners. When you play the Phillies with Rupp behind the plate, you can forget about stealing bases.
- Is he calling a good game?
“You can never have a good enough relationship with your pitchers,” Rupp said.
That’s what he thinks he needs to work on the most. If he can do better at that, then the Phillies pitchers will benefit.
- Is he hitting?
If he is — we’re set. Rupp is a good fielder, so if he can hit he will be very successful. That can only be a good thing. His scouting report says he has power and can hit, so he could be the future cleanup hitter for the Phillies.
To wrap things up, let’s look at another upside: the Phillies pitching prospects are good, right? Well who is going to control and catch these guys?
You guessed it, Cameron Rupp.
So the next time the Phillies are on, stop a second and watch to see how good Rupp and the other young Phillies are doing.
