The Philadelphia Phillies will try to bounce back after dropping their first series of the Don Mattingly era to the Cincinnati Reds. MLB home run leader Kyle Schwarber missed the entire series with an illness, and the Phillies’ offense suffered for it.
In the series, the team was outscored 17-10 by the Reds, and Schwarber’s absence was felt. The Phillies were also missing production from one of their stars, catcher JT Realmuto, who was in the lineup.
In the two games he played in the series, Realmuto went 0-6. The three-time All-Star and Silver Slugger has struggled at the plate this season, batting just .212 with one home run heading into Friday’s game against the Cleveland Guardians. Now, the Phillies are trying a different approach for the 35-year-old veteran.
Lightening the Workload
JT Realmuto has been one of baseball’s iron men at the catcher position since he arrived in Philadelphia. Since 2019, JT Realmuto has played the most games by a catcher in the MLB with 864 games. Salvador Perez is second with 813 games. That is a lot of mileage to put on one’s body, and it appears that the workload is starting to catch up to Realmuto.
Factoring in Realmuto’s primary role as a catcher rather than DH or first base, the amount of work he has put in compared to others at his position has been staggering.
Paul Casella of MLB.com, in his May 21 article, put into greater perspective the number of innings Realmuto has caught.
“Still, he started 132 games and caught more innings (1,151 1/3) than anyone else. Of course, that’s nothing new for Realmuto, whose 6,966 2/3 innings behind the dish since joining the Phillies in 2019 are by far the most in the Majors during that span. Will Smith is second at 5,811 1/3 innings, meaning no other player is within even a thousand innings of Realmuto,” Casella wrote.
Phillies manager Don Mattingly believes it no longer serves Realmuto best to try to catch every inning.
“I just don’t think him catching five, six days in a row at this point in the season makes a lot of sense,” Mattingly said this week. “We’re going to try to keep him stronger through the course of the season.”
The Phillies are hoping the extra rest will help Realmuto start getting back into a rhythm at the plate.
Barreling the Ball
JT Realmuto is trying to get back on track at the plate. One part of the equation is getting Realmuto more rest, and another part is getting his barrel on the ball more consistently.
Charlotte Varnes and Matt Gelb of The Athletic, in their May 21st article about Realmuto, highlighted how much he has been struggling.
“At the conclusion of Wednesday’s game, Realmuto’s .563 OPS ranked 246th out of 274 major-league hitters with at least 100 plate appearances. He’s had stretches like this before, such as a .552 OPS over a 31-game span in 2024, but that was over several months due to time missed for knee surgery. The last time he had similar prolonged struggles was in August and September 2017 with the Miami Marlins.”
Realmuto feels like he just has to keep working to get through this rough patch.
“To be honest, my timing feels fine right now,” Realmuto said. ‘I’m just missing a lot of pitches. Just seem to just be off the barrel. I don’t know exactly why that is, but it doesn’t feel like a timing issue. It just feels like I’m either catching it just off the end or just in off the barrel. So, I’m just going to keep working and try to figure it out.”
Realmuto has been a cornerstone of the Phillies franchise for the last seven years, and despite his age and the mileage on his body, the Phillies believe this slump isn’t who Realmuto will be as a player moving forward.
Phillies to Try to Lighten JT Realmuto’s Workload