CLEARWATER, Fla. \u2013 J.T. Realmuto admits that he\u2019s thought about the possibility. It intrigues him. Not now. But definitely someday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of in my blood,\u201d he said Monday at Phillies camp.<\/p>\n
The subject was managing. As in, would he like to manage after his playing days are complete?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely something that piques my interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Zack Wheeler, who initially signed with the Phillies in the fall of 2019 in part because he wanted to pitch to Realmuto, believes his favorite catcher would be an excellent big-league skipper someday.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of good catchers make good managers,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cBehind the plate, you\u2019re always thinking about game situations. You\u2019re running a pitching staff. Probably the biggest thing a manager does is run a bullpen. I think J.T. would do that well. He has so much experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he has presence. He has credibility. He\u2019d be able to have conversations with people where he could be firm and be real with them, or he could be like the \u2018cool dude\u2019 coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the whole package.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manager Rob Thomson has frequently called Realmuto \u201ca manager on the field.\u201d That\u2019s why Thomson was so pleased when the Phillies kept Realmuto on a new, three-year deal this winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just does so much for us, on the field and off,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cHe\u2019s a great leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relamuto and pitching coach Caleb Cotham run pregame meetings with pitchers, breaking down individual attack plans for each hitter the staff will see in a series. Realmuto is known for speaking freely in those meetings, offering opinions and strategies based on the video and data that he studies behind the scenes and what his eyeballs tell him in game action.<\/p>\n
And when he talks, pitchers listen. Wheeler seldom shakes off a pitch that Realmuto calls. There is complete trust between pitcher and catcher. Realmuto puts down the fingers \u2013 or in this day and age, pushes the buttons — and Wheeler executes. And Wheeler, mind you, has been the best starting pitcher in baseball since arriving in Philadelphia, according to Fangraphs, which gives him a 28.6 WAR since the start of 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy position kind of gives me a PhD in managing a pitching staff,\u201d said Realmuto, who will begin his 12th season as a big-league regular in 10 days.<\/p>\n
Realmuto will turn 35 on Wednesday. It\u2019s too early to tell if he will play beyond his new contract, but he\u2019s certainly a lot closer to the end of his playing days than the beginning. While he\u2019s completely focused on winning a World Series ring in Philadelphia before his playing career ends, he has given occasional thought to what comes next.<\/p>\n
First would be some family time. Realmuto and his wife, Lexi, have four young children and he\u2019s going to want to be Dad for a while.<\/p>\n
But he knows, \u201cI\u2019m going to miss the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, maybe, when the kids get a little older, he\u2019ll look to manage. If he does, he\u2019ll be joining the family business. As a kid, Realmuto was coached by his dad, David, a former college baseball player at Southwest Missouri State. David also coached his daughters, J.T.\u2019s sisters Ryan and Amanda, in softball. <\/p>\n
Both starred at the college level. Ryan was a four-time all-Big 12 player at Oklahoma State before entering the coaching world at Hofstra and Rutgers. Realmuto\u2019s coaching connections also extend to the wrestling mat. His uncle, John Smith, is a former U.S. Olympic gold medal winner and a Hall of Fame coach at Oklahoma State.<\/p>\n
If he were ever to become a manager, Realmuto would look to blend the old with the new, the technology and science of today with the feel and instinct that has always been there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019d be good at playing both sides, the analytics and the eyeballs,\u201d Realmuto said. \u201cI do that now. We have all the analytics, but I use my eyeballs to read swings. As a manager, you have to use both. You have to know when to follow your gut. Like, you could be walking through the clubhouse one day and say to yourself, \u2018This guy just doesn\u2019t have it. He doesn\u2019t have any confidence. I don\u2019t care if the computer says he\u2019s the best guy. Right now, he\u2019s not there.\u2019 You have to have that as a manager.\u201d<\/p>\n
A manager also has to set a tone that maximizes player performance.<\/p>\n
Realmuto has learned that from watching Thomson.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way he came in and handled that 2022 season,\u201d Realmuto said of the Phils\u2019 National League pennant-winning campaign. \u201cHe was a calming presence. He had a really good team. We knew we were a really good team. But we were putting a lot of pressure on ourselves early in the season and, sadly, Joe (Girardi) got fired. Topper came in and said, \u2018Hey, guys, you\u2019ve got to believe in yourselves. We can\u2019t do too much. I believe in you. We\u2019re going to get to where we want to go.\u2019 At that time, we were (seven) games under .500, but there was no panic in him. Every day was just calm, giving us confidence. That\u2019s a huge part of managing, bringing the best out of your guys and giving them confidence. That\u2019s something I take away from Topper.\u201d<\/p>\n
From afar, Realmuto has admired Skip Schumaker, who managed Miami and is now in his first season leading the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like Skip a lot,\u201d Realmuto said. \u201cJust the way he goes about his business. He brings intensity without having to say anything. He holds his guys to a really high standard, you can tell. I\u2019ve never spoken to him about it, but you can tell his guys respect that intensity, and I think that\u2019s important in managing. You need to be a calming presence but you also have to hold your guys to a high standard and the whole team has to be pulling in one direction, no matter how many superstars you have, no matter how good your team is. If everyone is not pulling in the right direction, it can go to crap really fast.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy theory is you need both a calming presence and intensity. You\u2019ve got to be able to be there and be a guy\u2019s buddy and have cool conversations, but you\u2019ve also got to kick somebody in the ass when they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Realmuto ever manages, there\u2019s one thing he\u2019d love to have on his team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it would be fun as a manager to have a young, up-and-coming catcher that I could work with and try to help and mold and teach things that were taught to me when I was young because not every catcher gets that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The game sustaining itself. One generation touching another. It\u2019s a beautiful thing.<\/p>\n
But first, there\u2019s the rest of Realmuto\u2019s playing career. The 2026 Phillies are once again built on pitching and those pitchers will require their leader to put down the right fingers.<\/p>\n
Down the road, though \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all a matter of timing, making it work with my family, and a team giving me a chance,\u201d J.T. Realmuto said. \u201cBut I do think it would be fun to manage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEARWATER, Fla. \u2013 J.T. Realmuto admits that he\u2019s thought about the possibility. It intrigues him. Not now. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40,16702],"class_list":{"0":"post-627047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies","14":"tag-phillies-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116241145811961585","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}