Phillies: Most impactful trade made with every team
Miami Marlins: J.T. Realmuto
"On February 7, 2019, the Miami Marlins traded J.T. Realmuto to the Philadelphia Phillies for Sixto Sanchez, Will Stewart, Jorge Alfaro and international bonus slot money."
Ever since 2008 World Series champion Carlos Ruiz played his last game in red pinstripes for the Phillies in 2016, it appeared that the franchise’s next perennial catcher would be the prospect they traded for one season prior in July, Jorge Alfaro.
Alfaro came to the Phillies from the Rangers, along with Alec Asher, Jerad Eickhoff, Matt Harrison, Jake Thompson and Nick Williams, as part of the Cole Hamels trade. In parts of three seasons from 2016-18, Alfaro slashed .270/.327/.422 in red pinstripes with 22 doubles, 15 home runs, 51 RBI, 22 walks and 179 strikeouts across 143 games and 508 plate appearances.
Despite Alfaro playing just one full season for them, the Phillies saw an opportunity to improve their backstop, roughly one month before they would go on to sign Bryce Harper to a then-record-breaking deal (before Mike Trout would surpass that not too long after).
In early February 2019, they acquired then-one-time All-Star and Silver Slugger Award-winning J.T. Realmuto in exchange for top pitching prospect Sixto Sanchez, fellow minor-leaguer Will Stewart and international bonus slot money.
The decision proved to be an excellent one, as Realmuto instantly was a difference maker both with his bat and glove behind the plate. Across 145 games, he slashed .275/.328/.493 with 36 doubles, 25 home runs and 83 RBI; in the field, he committed just nine errors across 1,174 chances (99.2 fielding percentage), and threw out the most runners attempting to steal among National League catchers (43).
Realmuto would be the 2019 Phillies’ lone All-Star; he finished 14th in the MVP race, but ended up coming away with his second-career Silver Slugger and first-career Gold Glove nod.
He is no Bob Boone or Ruiz, yet, but a few deep playoff runs with at least one ending up with a World Series championship and Realmuto would instantly rank among the all-time bests to ever play catcher as a Phillie.
– Matt Rappa contributed to this report