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The Philadelphia Phillies have all the familiar faces back for another run this season, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a few changes.
After winning just a single playoff game in 2024, the Phillies front office made some tweaks to the pitching staff and brought in part-time outfielder Max Kepler, but largely opted to run it back around the core of veteran stars like Bryce Harper, Zack Wheeler and Trea Turner.
But as that core ages, the Phillies are considering some adjustments. And one of the biggest changes the team has been mulling is a reduced workload for star catcher JT Realmuto as he opens the year with a poor .237 batting average.
“Which leads to the questions,” Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer explained. “Because Realmuto is a 34-year-old catcher. And when any 34-year-old catcher — especially one who starts darned near every day and is in the last year of a five-year, $115.5 million contract — slumps at the plate, the questions tend to hang like storm clouds.”
Despite his age and manager Rob Thomson indicating that Realmuto could take more days off, the veteran catcher is on his usual 135-start pace so far in 2025.
And when asked if there was a link between his rough start at the plate and the wear on his body, Realmuto offered a decisive three words on whether he needs to give up some playing time: “I feel great,” he said.
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“So, I haven’t felt like I’ve overcaught,” he added. “My body’s felt great.”
Realmuto is unlikely to ever concede the need to sit out more games, but the statistics are surely making it hard for the Phillies to maintain his volume of starts.
“But since Realmuto finished seventh in the NL MVP voting in 2022, his slugging percentage has backslid each year from .478 to .452 to .429 last season, while his OPS has gone from .820 to .762 to .751,” Lauber added. “The regression is undeniable.”
And if that regression persists, it seems the Phillies will have no choice but to try giving Realmuto some more rest, no matter what he says about his endurance.
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Peter Chawaga is a veteran journalist covering Major League Baseball for The Sporting News. His MLB reporting has included feature interviews with commissioner Rob Manfred and Hall of Fame slugger David Ortiz, salary analysis, player rankings and more. He has covered baseball for Forbes, Yardbarker, Pitcher List, Athlon and other outlets.
With over ten years of newsroom experience, he has previously covered finance, technology, arts, and culture for newspapers, magazines, and websites nationwide. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in English and journalism.
English (US)