Friday, September 25

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CLEARWATER, Fla. -- For 24 hours in January, J.T. Realmuto thought his Phillies career had ended.

Following a winter-long stalemate, the Phils pivoted from their franchise catcher to make a previously unplanned push to sign Bo Bichette. But Bichette pivoted from them and signed with the Mets instead. The Phillies returned to Realmuto, who signed a three-year, $45 million deal.

Phillies pitchers couldn’t have been more relieved.

“If he was gone, I might be a different pitcher this year,” Phillies ace Zack Wheeler said.

“Re-signing him was the biggest thing for us,” Taijuan Walker said.

It’s apparently futile for a catcher to put a dollar value on what he brings to a pitching staff, regardless of the seemingly endless anecdotal evidence supporting him. But this spring, Phillies pitchers tried to explain exactly why Realmuto has meant so much to them.

“I know when I’ve thrown to other guys, it hasn’t gone as well,” said Wheeler, who has a 2.78 ERA with Realmuto and a 3.74 ERA with all other catchers in his career. “It’s the familiarity. It’s knowing and seeing what I’m doing before the game. It’s knowing what’s working. He just works it into the game. He’s really good at that. We’ve been together for a while now. He’s going to lean on my fastball because he knows that’s my best pitch, maybe when other people don’t. They might mess around a little bit more with other pitches. He's big for me.”

Aaron Nola recalled an at-bat from his final start in 2025. He had tossed five scoreless innings against Minnesota on Sept. 26. He retired the first two batters in the sixth inning on four pitches.

Realmuto called for a first-pitch sinker in to Twins catcher Christian Vázquez.

Nola thought there was no way that Vázquez would swing at it, so he grooved the pitch over the plate.

Whack.

Home run.

Nola told Realmuto in the dugout that he thought Vázquez wouldn’t swing.

“That’s why I called sinker in,” Realmuto said. “I knew he was going to swing at it.”

“Dangummit,” Nola said, laughing.

“There are so many times when he’ll call something and I’m like, ‘Hmmm, OK, let’s do it,’ and then I just lock the guy up,” Nola said. “There’s times when I’m out there and I’m trying to get a feel for what the hitter’s thinking or feeling. Then, in the back of my head I’m like, ‘He fouled that pitch off. Maybe he said something to himself and J.T. heard it.’ So that’s why I pretty much go with what he does.”

It’s a trust thing.

It’s the word Phillies pitchers seem to use the most.

“He’s always watching video,” Cristopher Sánchez said via an interpreter. “He’s always on the computer. He’s always working on game plans. He’s always writing down things for the game plan. He’s always suggesting things that end up being correct. That’s him. Always. The way he calls a game is just unbelievable. On a bad day, I might shake him off a pitch or two. You just don’t go out there thinking of shaking him off because he’s just excellent at that. Any small thing that he sees out there, he’ll have a word on it.”

It’s known that Wheeler relies almost exclusively on the Phillies’ game planning before he pitches. He’s not alone, but it says something that one of the game’s greatest pitchers puts so much faith in his catcher.

“I know if he sees something he’ll just make adjustments,” Wheeler said. “If it’s working, he’ll keep calling it.”

“He just has that knowledge of who a hitter is, maybe what he’s thinking, how we’ve attacked him throughout the series or the season,” Jesús Luzardo said.

Realmuto also provides a calming presence behind the plate and on the mound. His conversations with pitchers on the mound typically start the same way.

“Hey, I just want to give you a breather.”

“You’re good.”

“We’re one pitch away. We’ll work out of it.”

Then he wants to talk about the plan.

“What do you got for this guy?”

“What are you thinking here?”

Luzardo, for example, might tell Realmuto what he wants to throw. Nola and Sánchez said they might have a quick discussion about it.

“All right,” Realmuto will say. “I like it.”

Other pitchers defer.

“You pick it,” Walker said.

“I’m good with whatever,” Orion Kerkering said.

“I’m the same way,” Wheeler said. “I’ll say, ‘I don’t know. You got it.’”

Maybe they get out of the jam. Maybe they don’t. Either way, Realmuto will be back at work the next day, trying to find an edge for the next game’s starter.

“It’s the little things,” Walker said. “The small things make a big difference. I don’t think people realize how good a really good catcher is. Good catchers are hard to come by, especially ones who study the game the way he does. He makes our life easy. If we didn’t want to, we wouldn’t have to do any scouting reports. We’re not going to shake him.”

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