Decisions, decisions.

The Phillies are going to need to make one soon on their backup catcher.

Rafael Marchan went on the IL on July 14 with left knee patellar tendinitis and has been on a rehab assignment with Lehigh Valley since Aug. 13. Since then, he has taken on an increasing workload with the IronPigs after splitting time between catching and serving as the team’s DH.

This past week, Marchan caught nine full innings in four different games, though never on back-to-back days. Of course, odds are he isn’t going to be catching nine innings in a major league game anytime soon, so that may not be an issue. The point is that he is getting close to being ready, if he’s not there now.

The Phillies are currently in the midst of a West Coast trip against the Mariners and Angels, and whether Marchan will be on the trip will be interesting to see.

The decision could be pushed back since Marchan has almost half of his rehab time remaining. If they decide to activate him, then someone has to go off the 26-man roster.

Both Marchan and his backup counterpart, Garrett Stubbs, are out of options, and the Phillies have been reluctant to risk losing either of them by putting them through waivers. It’s likely they will stick with that approach.

As for Marchan, he describes what could be a tense situation with Stubbs as being rather congenial; friendly even.

“I never see it that the three of us are competing against one another. We’re on the same team. We have the same goals. So, if one of them are playing, we’re wishing him the best,” explained Marchan prior to a recent IronPigs game. “We all want to have the job, but we all just want to win.”

Marchan and Stubbs also act as each other’s eyes and ears.

Interim manager Don Mattingly will sometimes let the duo know who will be catching on J.T. Realmuto’s next day off, but naturally, the pair still wonder about the situation.

“Sometimes, we’re like, ‘Did you hear anything?’” said Marchan with a chuckle. “We let each other know if there is any talk about which one of us is going to catch on a particular day. We know J.T. is the main guy, and we both understand that he is going to get most of the work. We’re good with each other and want each other to do well.

“J.T. helps me a lot because I’m always asking a lot of questions. The way he feels. The way he prepares. The way he handles things. He’s always giving me a lot of information, a lot of feedback. I’ve always been grateful for him.”

Marchan points out that his knee is doing well and that they’re just being cautious. He does wonder how the injury really happened though.

Officially, he “tweaked” something in his knee on a swing against the Dodgers on July 13. When he was putting on his catching gear, something didn’t feel right and he was pulled from the game.

Marchan, who like all of the catchers in the Phillies organization – and most of baseball – is taught to drop down to one knee rather than use the more traditional squatting position behind the plate, wonders if that had something to do with it.

“That could have something to do with it,” Marchan recalled. “I don’t know.”

THE CURRENT SITUATION ... There are just two homestands left in the season for Lehigh Valley. There are also 13 road games remaining, giving them 25 games left to play. Is a playoff spot possible? To make the playoffs, Lehigh Valley would need to finish with the best International League record in the second half. They are currently five games behind Rochester and Indianapolis, who are tied for the top spot. The problem is that they also trail Durham, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Buffalo, Worcester and Syracuse in the East Division and Indianapolis and St. Paul in the West Division. They have 12 games left against the Syracuse Mets, including six at home this week. They have seven games left against Scranton (NY Yankees) and six against Worcester (Boston Red Sox) on their final homestand of the season. That’s a lot of teams to jump over.

DID YOU SEE THIS? ... With the question marks about the Phillies backup catchers, has anyone noticed Paul McIntosh? The veteran minor leaguer has hits in eight of the nine games he has played this season and is hitting .290/.395/.548 in August. On the season, the 28-year-old has eight home runs and 36 RBIs in 64 games at Lehigh Valley with a slash line of .269/.347/.454. For some reason, though, he is stuck behind Stubbs and Marchan, who have a combined line of .121/.170/.167 in the majors this season.