The star catcher was positioned on the 10-day injured record previous to Tuesday’s collection opener in Boston and can endure proper knee meniscectomy surgical procedure on Wednesday in Philadelphia. The timeline of a month traces up effectively with the All-Star Sport — set for July 16 — which means it’s doable that Realmuto might return when the Phillies open the second half on July 19 in Pittsburgh.
Realmuto first skilled knee ache on Could 4 towards the Giants, although he was largely in a position to play by it excluding lacking three straight video games from Could 12-14. He underwent an MRI round that point that exposed a small tear in his meniscus, nevertheless it was deemed minor sufficient that he might doubtlessly preserve enjoying.
“He felt slightly bit higher over time,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski stated on Tuesday afternoon. “We thought he’d really have the ability to work himself by it, however he developed slightly bit extra persistent ache.”
The damage progressed to the purpose that the membership really determined previous to the London Collection that Realmuto would endure the process as soon as they returned.
“Once I talked to him myself, I stated, ‘J.T., it appears to be like like we’ll need to get this achieved,’” Dombrowski stated. “That was Wednesday. He stated, ‘Yeah, Dave, we will do it whenever you need, however I am all proper to play.’ And I stated, ‘No, I feel it is time that we get this factor achieved from what all people’s telling me. Let’s get it knocked out.’
“It ought to be a couple of month that he’ll be out.”
It’s not a choice that the Phillies took calmly.
In any case, Realmuto — routinely known as the “spine” of the membership by his teammates — is among the most useful gamers on the roster, given his defensive prowess and administration of the pitching employees. He is been a relentless for the Phillies, having beforehand spent solely 11 days on the IL — attributable to a bone bruise in his left wrist in Could 2021 — since becoming a member of the membership in 2019.
So how will the Phillies deal with the following month or so?
“We’ll see,” supervisor Rob Thomson stated. “However I’ve stated all of it alongside, this can be a resilient membership. Our entrance workplace has achieved a fantastic job creating depth and getting us depth. Each time anyone goes down, anyone steps up. And I am anticipating the identical factor this time.”
The Phillies haven’t missed a beat with out Trea Turner (strained proper hamstring) over the previous 5 weeks. Additionally they made deep runs over the previous two seasons regardless of prolonged absences from Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins, amongst others.
Now, they’ll want to exchange not solely among the finest, however most sturdy catchers within the Majors. Realmuto has caught 9,315 2/3 innings since 2015 — his first full season in MLB. That is 1,547 1/3 greater than another catcher throughout that span.
Even since becoming a member of the Phillies in 2019, Realmuto’s 5,130 2/3 innings behind the plate are effectively forward of the second-most (Martín Maldonado, 4,492 2/3). Realmuto additionally leads all catchers with 20.6 bWAR throughout that span. Routinely posting among the finest pop instances throughout the Majors, per Statcast, Realmuto has thrown out 99 tried basestealers since becoming a member of the Phils — 20 greater than another catcher.
To fill that void, Philadelphia will flip to backup catcher Garrett Stubbs and Rafael Marchán, who was recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take Realmuto’s spot on the lively roster.
Stubbs entered Tuesday slashing .173/.271/.192 in 59 plate appearances this season, although the Phillies are 10-4 in his 14 begins. He is a profession .213 hitter with a .605 OPS. As for Marchán, the 25-year-old is slashing .233/.382/.395 in 13 video games between Lehigh Valley and Single-A Clearwater this season. He made his season debut on Could 14 after lacking the beginning of the season attributable to decrease again ache.
“We’re comfy with it,” Dombrowski stated. “Stubbs has really been enjoying fairly effectively for us not too long ago, and we like Marchán. We even have favored him for years. One of many difficulties for Marchán has all the time been he is been damage quite a bit, however he received again not too long ago from that again [injury], and he is performed superb at Triple-A.”
The Phillies (45-20) had the good thing about coming into Tuesday with a nine-game lead over the Braves within the Nationwide League East and a five-game edge over the Dodgers for the very best report within the NL.
“I would relatively get it achieved now — as he would,” Dombrowski stated. “Get it taken care of after which know that he is coming again relatively than it fire up later within the yr after which need to do it at an inopportune time down the stretch.”