Philadelphia Phillies' Catcher Realmuto Is Heating Up in Harper's Absence

After a slow start to the season, Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto is starting to hit like an All-Star again.

Leo Morgenstern | Jul 6, 2022

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As the Philadelphia Phillies trounced the Washington Nationals by a score of 11-0 on Tuesday, catcher J.T. Realmuto reached base twice and drove in three runs. He hit his second homer in the past two days, and brought his OPS above .700 for the first time in a long while.

It was a good game for the the Phillies backstop, who has had quite a few of those as of late. He has scored a run in each of his last four games and reached base safely in each of his last seven.

Since Bryce Harper went down with a broken thumb on June 25, Realmuto is hitting .320/.379/.680 with a 182 wRC+. He has driven in seven runs in seven games.

Since June 18, when Harper was kept out of the lineup with an infected blister, Realmuto has an .844 OPS and a 131 wRC+. More than half of his home runs this season have come in that time.

Realmuto is stepping up in Harper's absence, which is exactly what he needed to do. The reigning NL MVP has played just four games since June 18, and the Phillies still have a winning record during that span.

With his recent success, Realmuto is not just helping his team, but himself too. He has finally started to look like the All-Star catcher Philadelphia fans remembered him to be.

In his last 20 games, dating back to June 11, Realmuto is hitting .250/.329/.431 with a 112 wRC+. Those numbers are very similar to the ones he put up over his first three seasons with the Phillies.

In addition to his timely hits and rediscovered power stroke, a particularly good sign for Realmuto is his batting average on balls in play (BABIP). His BABIP has been quite low since the start of June, especially so over the past few weeks.

This indicates that Realmuto has not been benefitting from any so-called "good luck" on balls in play—he is simply making quality contact, and that quality contact is resulting in more hits.

As evidence of the high-quality contact he is making, Realmuto's expected wOBA over his past 50 PA is .419. His xwOBA has hovered around league average all season long, but over the past few weeks he has been tearing the cover off the ball.

Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto rounds second base during a game against the Atlanta Braves. — Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto rounds second base during a game against the Atlanta Braves / © Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports

Slowly but surely, Realmuto has been getting his numbers up, and he is now hitting .244/.320/.384 on the season. That isn't a jaw-dropping slash line, but it isn't bad either—on average, Major League hitters are batting .242/.312/.396.

Compared to other catchers, Realmuto's slash line looks significantly better. The average backstop is hitting just .222/.292/.365. Realmuto also ranks second among NL catchers in runs scored and fifth in RBI.

Overall, Realmuto has been an average hitter in 2022, and a pretty good offensive contributor considering the position he plays. If he keeps hitting like he has been lately, his numbers will steadily improve, and by season's end, he might be more than just "pretty good."

If Realmuto can continue to carry a hot bat, it will be a tremendous boost for the Phillies. Harper has no timeline yet for his return, and it will make a big difference if Realmuto can continue to step up and help fill that hole in the lineup.

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Published Jul 6, 2022

LEO MORGENSTERN

Leo Morgenstern is a writer and editor for Inside the Phillies. He also writes for FanGraphs and Just Baseball, and his work has appeared on Pitcher List and Baseball Prospectus. He previously covered the Phillies for SB Nation's The Good Phight. You can follow him on Twitter @morgensternmlb.