JT Realmuto
Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network
Show Name: I-95 Rundown
Episode Title: The Phillies
You are listening to I-95 Rundown with your host Charlie Mott
In this episode of I-95 Rundown we discuss:The Phillies.
Segment 1: Early Career
- Although he primarily served as the team's shortstop, Realmuto would occasionally catch for Carl Albert when their starting catcher was asked to pitch.
- Steve Taylor, a scout for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB), attended a game where Realmuto was catching and told the player that he was more likely to play in MLB as a catcher than as a shortstop.
- The Marlins went on to select Realmuto in the third round, 104th overall, of the 2010 MLB Draft.
- attended a game where Realmuto was catching and told the player that he was more likely to play in MLB as a catcher than as a shortstop.
- The Marlins went on to select Realmuto in the third round, 104th overall, of the 2010 MLB Draft.
- Although he had previously committed to play college baseball at Oklahoma State on an athletic scholarship, Realmuto chose to accept the Marlins' offer, which included a $700,000 signing bonus.
- He was assigned to the GCL Marlins of the Rookie Gulf Coast League, where he batted .175 in 40 at-bats, including two runs and four RBIs.
- Prior to the 2011 season, Marlins farm director Jim Fleming and scouting director Stan Meek pushed Andy Haines, then the manager of the Class A Greensboro Grasshoppers, to promote Realmuto to the team.
- He spent spring training working with Marlins catching instructor Tim Cossins and was assigned to the Grasshoppers to start the season.
- Realmuto split time behind the plate with Wilfredo Gimenez, and when he was not catching, he would appear as a designated hitter.
- He excelled both offensively and defensively in his 96 games with Greensboro; in addition to batting .287 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs, Realmuto successfully picked off 42 percent of attempted base stealers.
- Realmuto also helped take the Grasshoppers to a South Atlantic League championship title, recording a critical RBI in the final round against the Savannah Sand Gnats.
- The following season, both Realmuto and Haines were promoted to the Class A-Advanced Jupiter Hammerheads of the Florida State League.
- There, Realmuto was paired with up-and-coming pitcher José Fernández, a partnership that the Marlins envisioned would form the backbone of their future major league roster.
- Realmuto was one of three Hammerheads named to the 2012 Florida State League All-Star Game, alongside outfielders Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna.
Segment 2: Rise to the majors
- Realmuto received his first major league call-up on June 1, 2014, when Saltalamacchia was placed on the 7-day disabled list with a concussion.
- Marlins manager Mike Redmond told reporters that Realmuto was "the guy who, in the short term, we think [...] can come up and do a good job".
- Realmuto made his major league debut on June 5, recording three RBIs against Jake Odorizzi in an 11–6 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays.
- He was sent back down to Jacksonville after only seven games, in which he had collected one run and five RBIs.
- Realmuto was briefly called back up to the Marlins for three days at the end of July, but he did not play a game
- recording three RBIs against Jake Odorizzi in an 11–6 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays.
- He was sent back down to Jacksonville after only seven games, in which he had collected one run and five RBIs.
- Realmuto was briefly called back up to the Marlins for three days at the end of July, but he did not play a game.
- following Jacksonville's Southern League championship victory, Realmuto was recalled to the Marlins' expanded roster.
- He appeared in 11 total major league games that season, batting .241 with nine RBIs and four runs.
- Realmuto joined the Marlins for spring training in 2015 but was assigned to the Triple A New Orleans Zephyrs to start the season.
- He spent three games there before being called up to replace an injured Jeff Mathis.
- Realmuto was meant to serve as a backup catcher to Saltalamacchia, with several opportunities to start behind the plate as Mathis waited four to six weeks for his fractured finger to heal.
- Saltalamacchia was designated for assignment on April 27, following an extended offensive and defensive slump, and Realmuto was named the Marlins' starting catcher.
- He hit his first major league home run the following month, a two-run shot against Rubby De La Rosa in the seventh inning of a 3–2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 18, 2015.
Segment 3: Career with the Phillies
- At the arbitration deadline on January 11, 2019, Realmuto agreed to a $5.9 million contract with the Marlins, including bonuses for each All-Star selection, Silver Slugger, and Gold Glove Award.
- However, in the fall of 2018, Realmuto and his agent had informed the Marlins that he would not sign a long-term contract with the team, and that he anticipated a trade.
- On February 7, 2019, the Marlins traded Realmuto to the Phillies in exchange for catcher Jorge Alfaro, pitching prospects Sixto Sánchez and Will Stewart, and $250,000 in international bonus slot money.
- Realmuto replaced Alfaro as the Phillies' starting catcher, with veteran Andrew Knapp serving in the backup role.
- Realmuto received his second All-Star Game selection that year, again the only member of his team selected.
- He was shut down during the last week of the season for a minor meniscus surgery after sustaining a knee injury during a game against the Cleveland Indians.
- In 2019, Realmuto hit .275 with a career-high 25 home runs in a career-high 532 at bats.
- He also led all major league catchers with 83 RBIs, 90 runs, 144 hits, and 36 doubles.
- Defensively, he threw out 37 attempted base stealers, the most among major league catchers that season and the most of any Phillies catcher since Darren Daulton in 1993.
- When the COVID-19 pandemic shortened the 2020 MLB season to 60 games, Phillies management wanted to ensure that Realmuto remained healthy throughout the abbreviated season.
- Realmuto himself told reporters that he wanted to play in all 60 regular-season games that year and catch in at least 50.
- He was an early star in the Phillies' disappointing season; although the team posted a 5–9 record in their first 14 games, Realmuto collected eight home runs within the same span.
- It was the second time that an MLB catcher had collected eight home runs in the first 15 games of the season, following Gabby Hartnett's 1925 run with the Chicago Cubs.
- Realmuto remained healthy until September 12, when he exited a game against the Miami Marlins with hip discomfort.
- The timing of the injury left the Phillies without their primary catcher just before a stretch of 14 games in 11 days.[64] He was diagnosed with a strained hip flexor, and he missed 10 games with the injury before returning on September 22 for a game against the Nationals.
- Realmuto batted .266 in 47 games that season, with 11 home runs, 32 RBIs, and 33 runs scored in 195 at-bats.
- With the knowledge that Realmuto was on track to become a free agent at the end of the 2020 season, both Phillies fans and teammates began using the phrase "Sign J. T." to pressure managers into offering him a new contract.
- After Realmuto hit a two-run home run during a scrimmage, outfielder Bryce Harper yelled "sign him" to the front office.[68] Harper continued to push the Phillies to re-sign Realmuto throughout the season; after the final game of the season, he told reporters that, "Realmuto needs to be our catcher next year – plain and simple."
Music Credits: List the artist and song name
- Big Rock - Take the Lead by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100305
- Artist: http://incompetech.com/
