February 23, 2026
Kate Frese/for PhillyVoice
J.T. Realmuto is one of the best defensive catchers in baseball.
Baseball is back — and so are most of the Phillies.
After a dominating 96-win season in 2025 and a devastating early exit to eventual World Series champions, the Dodgers, the championship window is still open for the Phils, but for how long?
The Phillies will enter 2026 with the fifth best World Series odds (+1500, via FanDuel). Expectations are still high, as is the level of talent in the clubhouse.
Sticking to their organizational mentality that keeping the window open requires keeping the core together — while also opening up some space for an infusion of young talent — familiar faces have returned and a familiar group of men will comprise the 26-man roster when camp breaks in March.
As we do every preseason, here's a deep dive into each position on the roster and its outlook heading toward Opening Day. We'll start with the one-time BCIB, J.T. Realmuto returning behind the plate:
It's sort of a weird situation. The Phillies had no other place to go — and neither did Realmuto.
After a brief dalliance with the idea of signing Bo Bichette, a superstar infielder who reportedly rejected a big Phillies offer to sign an even bigger (and shorter term, with opt outs) deal with the Mets, the Phillies needed any sort of plus right-handed bat they could fit into their lineup. They also didn't have a catcher. They also have one of the best pitching staffs in the sport, in large part due to Realmuto's savvy work at handling hurlers.
They had to re-sign him.
It was a good fit when the Phillies traded for Realmuto in 2019, it was a good fit when the team "signed him" again in 2021, and even though he's nearing 35, he's a good fit with a potentially risky $45 million price tag over the next three seasons.
In 2025, Realmuto was again among the leaders in innings spent behind the plate and offensively held his own, slashing .257/.315/.384. He had a 2.5 WAR amid plummeting power numbers. The real problem is that Realmuto would be a spectacular 7- or 8-hole hitter on a contending offense. In this Phillies' lineup, he's going to be hitting 4th, 5th or 6th.
The offensive production will probably decline further, but his prowess in the battery shows no signs of slowing down.
There could not be a starker or clearer contrast between Realmuto and the rest of the division's likely starting catchers (projections and WAR courtesy of baseball-reference):
| Team | Catcher (age) | 2025 stats | 2026 proj | Career WAR |
| Phillies | J.T. Realmuto (34) | .257, 12 HR, 52 RBI | .254, 15 HR, 55 RBI | 38.7 |
| Braves | Drake Baldwin (24) | .274, 19 HR, 80 RBI. | .272, 16 HR, 68 RBI | 3.3 |
| Mets | Francisco Alvarez (24) | .256, 11 HR, 32 RBI | .246, 15 HR, 60 RBI | 3.7 |
| Marlins | Agustín Ramírez (24) | .231, 21 HR, 67 RBI | .241, 18 HR, 58 RBI | -0.4 |
| Nationals | Kiebert Ruiz (27) | .247, 2 HR, 45 RBI | .247, 10 HR, 43 RBI | 4.9 |
The Phillies' backstop is a decade older than nearly every other catcher, with Washington's Ruiz the second-longest tenured returning player. Clearly Realmuto's experience will be an asset in 2026.
Sean Murphy, typically the Braves' everyday catcher, is out for the season after tearing his labrum, while Atlanta and Miami are looking to see if they can cash in on a young talent. Alvarez played well, though not a lot, for the Mets in 2025.
With likely back up Rafael Marchán now 26-years-old, the pipeline of future homegrown catchers took a hit when the team sent Eduardo Tait to the Twins at the trade deadline last season. He was previously the top catching prospect in the farm system and a top organizational bat.
A trio of mid-level, albeit young prospects remain at the catcher's spot in Alirio Ferrebus (ranked 20th by FanGraphs) and Anderson Araujo (21st), signees from Venezuela, and Kehden Hettiger (23rd), a highly-touted lefty drafted in the 11th round in 2023. All three are 21 or younger (Araujo is just 17) and quite raw. Hettiger rose as high as Double-A last year and is a name to watch for.
Perhaps one of them will break out and climb the organizational latter by the time Realmuto's three-year pact runs out in 2028.
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