Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto is not in Monday’s lineup vs. Nationals following ankle injury Sunday
Just as things were going good for the Phillies, they got some bad news on Sunday when catcher J.T. Realmuto left the game after rolling his ankle.
He was deemed day-to-day by manager Joe Girardi following the game, so the news that he would not be in the lineup Monday against the Nationals can be taken in one of two ways:
- It’s good. If the injury was worse the Phillies would have placed Realmuto on the injured list instead.
- It’s bad. If the injury wasn’t so bad, he’d be playing Monday instead.
Realmuto has been one of the Phillies’ best batters this season, hitting .264 with .353 on-base percentage and .447 slugging. That’s good for an above-average 118 OPS+.
Like the rest of his team though, he’d taken a bit of a step back since the eight-game winning streak culminated in a sweep of the Mets early in the month. Since Aug. 10, he has batted .220/.339/.380.
As noted by NBC Sports Philadelphia, the problem faced by the Phillies now is not just the loss of Realmuto — it’s how thin the club is at catcher right now, too.
Backup catcher Andrew Knapp remains on the COVID injured list, leaving Rafael Marchan as the only healthy catcher on the roster.
Marchan is batting eighth.
Hellooo, D.C.!
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“Nick Maton and/or Ronald Torreyes are the current emergency catchers,” Corey Seidman notes in the story.
Neither appears to have played a professional inning at the position.
The Phillies will need to add a player from outside the 40-man roster in order to get a certified catcher back on the team.
The best bet is Triple-A IronPigs catcher Tyler Heineman, who has 20 MLB games to his name with the Miami Marlins. He batted .208/.288/.302.
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