Phillies J.T. Realmuto is Playing the Best Baseball of his Career

After overblown concerns of decline, Philadelphia Phillies star catcher J.T. Realmuto is playing his best baseball to date.

Author:
Alex Carr
Sep 15, 2022 6:00 PM EDT

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Philadelphia Phillies

After he posted a weaker season in 2021, It didn't take long for Philadelphia Phillies fans to lose their minds over J.T. Realmuto's slow start to 2022. Multitudes of fans took to Twitter to deem the 31-year-old catcher "cooked" or some variation of the word to suggest that Realmuto was past his prime.

According to that swath of observers, the remaining four years on his five-year, $115 million contract would be a painstaking, decline-ridden period.

How did Realmuto respond? Only by churning out the best season of his entire career.

So, how did he do it? What's changed in the veteran catcher that's flipped him back from good to great? Let's break it down:

Run, You Fools!

In 2019, when Realmuto was lovingly dubbed the Best Catcher in Baseball (BCIB) he nabbed 43 of an attempted 82 (47%) would-be base stealers. That mark led the majors by a wide margin, as the league average caught-stealing percentage was a mere 26%.

In 2021 however, the number of attempted base stealers versus Realmuto dropped staggeringly from a total of 82 in 2019, to a mere 38. Thus, as is to be expected when the volume of attempts dwindles, as does the percentage of caught runners. The veteran catcher posted a 26% caught-stealing rate, almost directly in line with the league average.

It seemed as if potential base-stealers heeded the Phillies' warning: don't run on J.T.

Yet, Phillies fans viewed this drop in CS% as a sign of decline for Realmuto. And, as it turns out, so did opposing teams, because in 2022 they've begun to run on him again.

That assumption has proven a major oversight. This season, Realmuto has caught 27 of a total 64 runners, good for a 42% caught-stealing rate, which leads all of baseball.

At 31 years old, Realmuto also leads the league in average pop time, a trend he's kept up with since joining the Phillies in 2019. He is, by all accounts, a freak of nature when it comes to reaction timing, and it's that pop time that keeps him in such elite company when it comes to nabbing runners.

Realmuto sets a throw to first to record the out.
© Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Nobody Runs on J.T. but J.T.

As if the 'Best Catcher in Baseball' wasn't enough of a unicorn already, the veteran is aiming to do something that has only been done once before.

Realmuto is primed to be the first catcher to post a 20/20 season since the great Ivan 'Pudge' Rodriguez in 1999. He would be the second catcher in MLB history to post such a season.

As things currently stand, Realmuto has 18 home runs on the 2022 season, alongside 17 stolen bases. He has yet to be caught on the basepaths this season, boasting a 100% success rate on stolen base attempts.

The 31-year-old ranks in the 86th percentile in all of baseball in sprint speed, and has posted a whopping 5.9 BsR on the season, a top seven mark in the sport.

This is what makes Realmuto such a valuable asset: for a catcher - often dubbed the most unathletic position in the sport - to be as remarkable an athlete as Realmuto is, all while being the best defender in the game at his position, and simultaneously carrying a difference-making bat on his shoulders... it's an almost unheard of combination.

Realmuto slides safely into second base on an attempted steal versus the Washington Nationals.
© Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

The Bat is Back

The biggest difference in Realmuto's game this season, above all else, has been the re-emergence of his game-changing bat.

Realmuto's peripheral numbers from the 2021 season (via Baseball Savant)

As displayed by the image above, Realmuto started to flash some concerning signs during the 2021 season. His quality of contact was poor, and his expected stats reflected that. Additionally, his strikeout numbers were on the downtrend, as were his whiff% and chase rates. Altogether, this spelled a poor combination for the Phillies' catcher, and the concern surrounding him was not necessarily unwarranted.

*Realmuto's peripheral numbers from the 2022 season (via Baseball Savant)*

Thankfully, in 2022, Realmuto has put those worries to rest. His hard hit rates have skyrocketed, as have his expected stats, and his strikeout numbers have returned to fall in line with his 2019 rate.

All of this has culminated in the strongest, most well-rounded season of Realmuto's career. Through 121 games, he is slashing .275/.348/.475 on the season with 18 home runs, a career-high 17 stolen bases, a career-high 128 wRC+, and a career-high 5.8 fWAR. Not to mention the fact that Realmuto continues to play defense at an elite level, and is far and away the best at stopping would-be base stealers in their tracks.

In his four years as a Philadelphia Phillie, J.T. Realmuto has performed like a true superstar. He has accumulated 4.5+ fWAR in each and every full season he's played, totaling at a whopping 18.6 fWAR across four years in red pinstripes. He boasts the 12th highest fWAR total in baseball from 2019-2022, surpassed only by names like Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Juan Soto, and others.

The fact of the matter is, J.T. Realmuto is anything but declining. In fact, there is a strong case to be made that, at 31 years old, the 'Best Catcher in Baseball' is currently at his athletic peak.

Don't look now, but it's more-than likely that Realmuto is going to end up on a few MVP ballots once all is said and done, and deservedly so.