Philadelphia Phillies: J.T. Realmuto is the team’s most indispensable player
The Philadelphia Phillies are actually a good team, and they feature a number of good players.
Really groundbreaking analysis, right there.
But among those players, there is a hierarchy of importance, one that doesn’t necessarily correspond with a ranked list that someone might make of the Phillies’ “best” players. And even though he might rate behind some of his teammates in such an exercise, catcher J.T. Realmuto continues to show that he is the team’s most irreplaceable and indispensable player.
Scoff all you want, but the Phillies showed themselves to be more than capable of winning games while reigning MVP Bryce Harper missed two months of action. And as much as the team will continue to lean on Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler, each of them cancels the other out to an extent in terms of individual importance. Sure, you want your full complement of pitching when you’re vying for a playoff spot, but odds are that your staff is deep enough to withstand the absence of a single member.
J.T. Realmuto is proving to be critically important for any success the Philadelphia Phillies hope to have.
Perhaps you could even make a case for Kyle Schwarber and the oomph he adds to the lineup. But when taking in the full scope of their contributions to the team, J.T. Realmuto is the single player that the Phillies can least afford to be without for any length of time.
Starting with positional scarcity, any team with an elite catcher gains an automatic advantage from the jump. Not only does Realmuto provide the kind of offensive threat that few catchers ever have, which will be discussed shortly, but his durability keeps him in the lineup far more often than the average backstop. As such, the Phillies do not have to lean on a backup (i.e., inferior player) at a critical starting position nearly as often as other teams in the league do.
No disrespect to Garrett Stubbs, who has done a nice job in his role and represents a marked improvement over the kind of dreck the Phillies previously trotted out there, but he’s looked good precisely because it’s been in small doses this season. You wouldn’t want him starting 65 games a year if you had a #1 catcher who needed a lighter workload. By the same token, if he were to become the default starter because of a Realmuto injury, the precipitous drop at the position would likely spell doom for the Phils.
J.T. Realmuto remains elite at saving runs for the Phillies on defense, as he’s nailed 44% of would-be basestealers this season, blowing away the league average of 24%. This is largely due to his league-leading pop time behind the plate, as his athleticism shows through in this area. Realmuto is on pace for the most innings played and putouts from the catcher position in Major League Baseball this year, and this will likely be the third time in his career that he’s received the most pitches in the league. This is workhorse-level production that doesn’t really exist anymore.
Of course, this all buries the lead. Because despite his defensive excellence, Realmuto’s offense is even more of a boon to the Phillies, giving them a leg-up on nearly every other team in the league from the catcher’s spot in the order. Despite a sluggish start to 2022, J.T.’s counting stats and his triple slash line have all settled right in line with his career norms, suggesting that his age-31 season was not the starting point of any regression.
His efficiency on the basepaths, a perfect 17-for-17 in stolen base attempts, is just the cherry on top of what has been a very good but still probably underappreciated season by the three-time all-star. In a sea of .220-hitting, plodding catchers, J.T. Realmuto is a true unicorn, and the Phils still have him locked in for three more years of this. Father Time will come, as he always does, but Realmuto looks to be one of those elite few who can stave him off longer than the vast majority of professional athletes.
Next. Phillies: Three free agents who won't be back in 2023 and why. dark
J.T. Realmuto has answered the bell for the 2022 Philadelphia Phillies. Hopefully his contributions can help push this club to new heights, so that they won’t have been in vain. The Phillies already failed to capitalize last year on MVP-level performances from two of their players. They can’t keep letting elite performances go by the wayside.