J.T. Realmuto

Are the years of heavy volume behind the plate finally catching up with Realmuto? He has been an above-average offensive producer for seasons on end and still finished 2023 as the third-most valuable fantasy catcher behind only William Contreras and Adley Rutschman because unlike any other catcher, he steals bases. His 16 steals last season led all players who are still catcher eligible for 2024. However, Realmuto had both a career-worst batting average and the second-worst OBP of his career last season. Realmuto was once a high-contact hitter, but he's since slipped to the bottom half of the league while his chase rate has slipped near the bottom third. Kyle Schwarber's full-time presence on the roster at designated hitter doesn't afford Realmuto the ability to stick in the lineup when he gets days off behind the plate, but if healthy, Realmuto should still play around 130-to-140 games once again while offering production in all five categories.

Is a 20-20 season from your catcher something you'd be interested in? Those that signed up last year had to be ecstatic about their return as Realmuto slashed .276/.342/.478 with 22 homers, 21 steals and nearly 160 runs-plus-RBI, putting him in a different stratosphere from every other fantasy catcher. Realmuto was caught stealing just once and had his best season to date by wRC+. It's impossible to project another 20-steal season from a catcher entering his age-32 season, but don't write off the possibility completely with Realmuto. He's a great athlete and the three-time All-Star will have to shoulder more of the load for the Phillies offensively over the first few months while Bryce Harper recovers from Tommy John surgery.

Realmuto did not wilt under the pressure of his big new contract and did what he could to get Philly into the postseason both at the plate as well as behind it. The run production was down slightly from 2018-19, but a lot of that can be attributed to the lineup construction and the issues the club had when MVP Bryce Harper and Realmuto weren't at the plate. The 13 steals from the catching position was a nice added bonus. Something to consider: should the new collective bargaining agreement usher in the full-time DH in the National League, it would in theory afford Realmuto even more plate appearances and allow the club to protect his legs from the wear and tear of catching. The challenge there is he is a supreme defender as well, so the club will want to pick and choose those moments. If the NL DH comes to be, Realmuto's potential value jumps into the third round where Salvador Perez currently lives.

Realmuto remained the clear top catcher in the league last season, producing some of the best work of his career. His .266/.349/.491 slash line established his career high in on-base percentage, while his 125 wRC+ just missed his career-best mark of 126. He continued to chip in on the basepaths, as his four steals tied for the lead among all catchers, while he also finished tied for first among all backstops with 11 homers. Statcast generally loved his quality of contact, giving him a career-best 13.6% barrel rate, though it did give him a modest .248 xBA, thanks in part due to a career-high 24.6 K%. Defensively, he remained an excellent framer, with perhaps the only negative being that his caught-stealing percentage dipped from 47% to 25%. Realmuto is heading into his age-30 season this year, so his decline could start at any time, but he has a long way to fall before any other catcher can claim his crown.

Realmuto finished as easily the top fantasy catcher despite a slightly disappointing season. There was an expectation that his offensive numbers would reach a new level with the move from Miami to Philadelphia, and while he did manage a career-high 25 homers, his .275/.328/.493 slash line was a near match for his .277/.340/.484 line from 2018. Still, not many other catchers can manage his combination of average and power, and throwing in his nine steals (three more than any other catcher) made him the clear top option at the position. He's also elite defensively, and the Phillies seemed to never want to take him out of the lineup, giving him 130 starts behind the plate, the most in the league. That volume pads his counting stats but may also have contributed to the meniscus surgery he required in late September, making him a bit of health risk heading into 2020.

Realmuto was bunched up with the likes of Willson Contreras and Buster Posey in that second tier of catchers last draft season. Now he's in the top tier of the catcher pool along with Gary Sanchez. In his age-27 season, Realmuto shaved eight percentage points off his groundball rate, adding more line drives and flyballs while making more consistent hard contact (38.5%, up from 33.3%). The predictable result was an uptick in rate power, with Realmuto adding 35 points to his ISO and 33 points to his SLG. He didn't run as much as in past years, but in the end, Realmuto was still pretty easily the most valuable player at the position in both real life and fantasy. Sanchez should bounce back after a miserable season, but Realmuto is the safer investment given his steady plate skills (19.6 K%, 7.2 BB%). Realmuto's outlook brightened with a February trade to Philadelphia.

During another year of catcher volatility, Realmuto was a rock, chipping in across the board while setting career highs in games played, home runs, RBI, runs scored and OPS. Realmuto's 28 stolen bases over the past three seasons lead backstops, significantly boosting him in a landscape with diminishing speed. Though his HR/FB has climbed in each of the last two seasons, he'll likely struggle to top last year's power production given his career 47.8 percent groundball rate. The backstop remains a safe bet to at least stay afloat in batting average, however. Despite less than desirable walk rates, he rarely strikes out (81 percent career contact rate) and has improved his BB/K in each full season. The team was stripped down this offseason, but Realmuto may also be on the move, so it's too early to say what the context ramifications will be. He turns 27 in March and does enough overall to comfortably profile as a top-five option at the position.

The stats haven't been flashy, but Realmuto's inspiring performance from 2016 was right in line with his offensive numbers in the minors. He gets extra fantasy pub for the dozen steals he accumulated last season, an asset that gets highlighted given the dearth of steals available at the catcher position. Still, the crux of Realmuto's future value is with the stick, not his legs. Counting on that speed from a player that has to get in a crouch 150 times a game sets buyers up for disappointment, particularly for one whose propensity for triples in 2015 dried up completely last season. Still, his pull-heavy tendencies could morph some doubles into home runs as he matures. As promising as last season was, however, Realmuto's lack of walks could very well come back to bite him as his unsustainable BABIP (.357 in 2016) comes back to earth, with the downside for a sub-.300 on-base percentage if the walks don't materialize. Be careful.

After an 11-game stint last year, Realmuto earned his first significant major league playing time with the Marlins and hit .259/.290/.406 in 126 plate appearances. Realmuto has posted a professional OBP above .350 just once and shouldn’t be expected to be an on-base machine — he walked just 4.1 percent of the time. But he makes contact at about a league average rate (15 percent strikeout rate) and showed plus power even with the cavernous walls of Marlins Park keeping him down. Realmuto managed 10 home runs and a shocking seven triples. The last catcher to muster seven triples was Darrell Porter in 1979, and it has happened just five times since 1970. Realmuto also stole eight bases and has attained double-digit stolen base totals in the minors, making him the rare speedster to play the catcher position. With full-time duty next year, he could put up a 10-10 season.

Since being drafted in the third round of the 2010 draft, Realmuto has progressed steadily through the Marlins' system. He struggled in his first taste of Double-A in 2013, batting .239/.310/.353 over 106 games before improving to a .299/.369/.461 line last season over 97 minor league contests. The strong season earned Realmuto a brief stretch in the majors in mid-June and a handful of September games as well, highlighted by a 3-for-5 effort with a double and a triple during the final week of the season. The 23-year-old backstop stands 6-foot-1 and offers a steady line-drive stroke with a strong contact rate (13.9 K% in the 2014 at Double-A) and patient approach at the dish. Realmuto also offers plus defense behind the plate, gunning down 22-of-58 would-be base stealers last season between the majors and the minors. Jarrod Saltalamacchia remains the Marlins’ primary option behind the dish, so Realmuto is most likely headed to Triple-A to further develop his craft and play every day. He could, however, push veteran Jeff Mathis for at-bats down the line and remains locked in among the team’s top prospects as the heir apparent behind the dish.

While Kyle Skipworth's prospect status is fading fast, Realmuto, a converted shortstop, did enough last season to inherit the Marlins' Catcher of the Future tag. He's still raw behind the plate, but the arm that could have made him a highly recruited quarterback is already gunning down basestealers at a nice clip, and his bat showed signs of progress as well at Low-A (12 homers and 13 steals from a kid spending most of his free time doing catching drills isn't bad at all). While Buster Posey comps are inevitable and misguided given the position switch, he is smart and athletic enough to develop into a solid major league backstop down the road if Miami is patient with him, or maybe switch the misguided comps from Posey to Craig Biggio if his new position doesn't take. He's still a few years from the majors, but Realmuto's athleticism and skill set make him an intriguing prospect at fantasy's thinnest spot.