Less catching? 1B? Some left field? Realmuto says he’ll do whatever to win

Less catching? 1B? Some left field? Realmuto says he’ll do whatever to win originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Rob Thomson finally had the face-to-face conversation he’d been waiting to have with J.T. Realmuto earlier this month.

The Phillies’ manager joked a few times during the offseason that he knew the talk wouldn’t be easy so the timing and messaging needed to be right.

Thomson and the Phillies want to better preserve Realmuto’s body this season. That will almost certainly mean starting fewer games behind the plate than he’s been accustomed to. Realmuto is a lead-by-example player who never wants to come out of a game, so even though it’s obvious that more rest could lead to better results, it’s a tricky balance to strike.

“At the end of the day, it’s just going to come down to Rob and I communicating,” Realmuto said Friday morning. “Just being an open door of communication. I have to be honest with him about how I’m feeling to try to keep me as healthy as possible for the long haul.

“I don’t have a specific number I want to catch. There’s no perfect answer, no way to know how my body is going to feel. Where I stand right now, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to catch (120 games). My body feels as good right now as it ever has.”

Excluding the shortened 2020 season, Realmuto started 130, 112, 130 and 130 games behind the plate in his first four full years as a Phillie. That dropped to 99 starts last season, when he underwent meniscus surgery in June and missed about six weeks.

That injury wasn’t suffered catching, though. Realmuto felt something in his knee while rounding second base on a triple at home against the Giants on May 4. He played through the issue for more than a month, even making the trip across the pond with the Phillies for a two-game series in London against the Mets, before undergoing a meniscectomy.

He still put together a similar offensive season to 2023 — both were slightly below the standard he’d set previously — but his baserunning was affected. Realmuto stole only two bases after swiping 37 the prior two years. Over the last two seasons, he has taken the extra base on a single or double in 36% of chances. The previous nine seasons, he’d done so 52% of the time.

“More on the basepaths than anything. I wasn’t able to be as explosive as I would like to have been,” he said. “I definitely feel better now that I did last year so we’re in a good spot.”

The other complicating factor is Realmuto’s contract status. He’s set to reach free agency after the season. The Phillies want to be mindful of that — playing only 90 or 100 games would affect his value.

As such, the team plans to play him some on days when he’s not catching. Sometimes, that will mean Realmuto is the designated hitter and Kyle Schwarber, who is also in a contract year, plays left field. Realmuto also feels comfortable at first base, where he’s played 263 innings in his big-league career.

There was an additional idea Thomson floated to Realmuto this month. What about left field?

“I’ve talked to him about maybe taking some flyballs in the outfield because he’s really athletic,” Thomson said Thursday afternoon. “See how he is with that. We’re gonna try some different things. We don’t want to wear him out but we want to see what it feels like, see if he’s comfortable with it.

“We were having the discussion of trying to manage his workload as best we can, and at the same time having respect for the fact that this is a contract year for him, and we’re very left-handed so we want us many right-handers in the lineup as we can. I said you ever think about playing the outfield? He said, ‘I think I move around pretty good, I’m willing to try anything.’

“There’s nothing set in stone. It’s just an idea at this point.”

Realmuto smiled when he was asked about it Friday morning. He expects to shag some flyballs in the outfield during camp but is unsure if he’ll actually play left field in a game.

“Like he said, I think it was just an idea but at the end of the day, I’ll do whatever it takes for this team to win. If he wants me to go out there and stand on my head, I’ll try to do that,” Realmuto said. “Whatever gives us the best chance to win.”

Realmuto said he’s open to discussing an extension with the Phillies this spring but is more focused on winning the World Series after two near-misses and a 95-win season. For that reason, he’s willing to cede some playing time behind the plate during the regular season if that’s what’s required. Rafael Marchan is out of options and could end up making the Opening Day roster. He’s finally healthy, the Phillies like him defensively and he’s shown some surprising signs offensively in a small sample in the major leagues.

Whether it’s Marchan or Garrett Stubbs backing him up, Realmuto will almost certainly still catch every inning of every playoff game.

“I want to win. At the end of the day, if the Phillies win and we have a good season, the contract stuff is going to take care of itself,” Realmuto said.

“It’s crazy how fast these last five years have gone by. I was talking to my wife last week about how long we thought our contract was but, really, five years goes by pretty quickly. It’s weird to already be back here.

“We’re all aware of Father Time so we know we don’t have unlimited time together to get the job done. Every year that passes, obviously we want to win the World Series so the longer it takes, the less chance we have to get it done. There’s certainly a little bit of urgency to make that happen together because we all get along well and we like each other so we’d rather win together.”