J.T. Realmuto’s value to Phillies goes well beyond his bat | Extra Innings

After completing his trade deadline work Wednesday afternoon by telling the baseball fans of Philadelphia “we got what we got,” Phillies general manager Matt Klentak repeated the mantra that the stars who were already here will have to carry the team to its desired postseason destination. All-star catcher J.T. Realmuto accepted the invitation and carried the Phillies to a 10-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park.

Realmuto went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs as the Phillies kept pace in the crowded National League wild-card race. At 57-51, the Phillies, Washington and Chicago Cubs are all tied atop the wild-card standings, with Milwaukee (57-53) one game back. The Giants, after failing to win a series for the first time since June, slipped to 2 1/2 games behind the wild-card leaders.

The Phillies and Giants will meet again next weekend in San Francisco, but this weekend, the Phillies will host the Chicago White Sox in an interleague series. The White Sox are 4-16 since the All-Star break and were just swept at home in a three-game series by the New York Mets, who have gone 13-5 since the break to pull within four games of a wild-card spot.

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— Bob Brookover (extrainnings@inquirer.com)

With his three hits and three RBIs in Thursday’s win over the Giants, J.T. Realmuto improved his batting average to .274 and his OPS to .781, the highest it has been since June 15. In 17 games since the All-Star break, he is hitting .281 with an .850 OPS, five home runs, and 13 RBIs.

His value, of course, goes much deeper than that. If the season ended today, only five catchers in baseball (Realmuto, Milwaukee’s Yasmani Grandal, Seattle’s Omar Narvaez, Boston’s Christian Vazquez, and the Mets’ Wilson Ramos) would have enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title. Realmuto leads all catchers with 22 doubles and is tied for third with 55 RBIs. His .781 OPS is fourth among the qualifying catchers.

Realmuto has started 90 games at catcher, the most in baseball. Grandal is second on the list at 86. Nobody else has started more than 77 games.

His greatest value remains his defense. Realmuto has thrown out 29 of 64 runners attempting to steal, a 45 percent rate that is by far the best in baseball. Wilson Ramos, by comparison, has thrown out just 11 of 75 runners attempting to steal. Jorge Alfaro, the other Phillies catcher last season, has thrown out 12 of 32 runners, a solid 37.5 percent. Realmuto’s defensive WAR rating by FanGraphs.com is 17.0, the best in the National League.

As good as he has been, it is important to remember that the Phillies gave up a lot to get him. Alfaro has had a decent first season as the Marlins’ starting catcher, but the player Philadelphia fans really could end up missing is pitcher Sixto Sanchez. In 14 starts this season in double A, Sanchez has a 2.96 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 82 innings. In his last four outings, he has a 1.03 ERA and has allowed just 13 hits and three walks in 26 1/3 innings.

Jake Arrieta made another quick exit in Thursday’s victory, leaving in the fifth inning after the Phillies had scored four times during a long bottom of the fourth. The pitcher acknowledged that the bone spur in his right elbow hurts the most when he is forced to rest for long periods between innings, but Scott Lauber writes in his notebook that Arrieta believes he’ll be able to keep pitching this season before having off-season surgery to remove the bone spur.

In addition to honoring the great Phillies career of Bobby Abreu this weekend, the team will also pay tribute to the 10-year anniversary of the 2009 National League champion club that fell to the New York Yankees in the World Series. Those Phillies will not be remembered as fondly as the 2008 title team, but 2009 and the two seasons that followed were also special, as I document in this story.

Columnist David Murphy checked in on the Phillies the day after the trade deadline and saw the same flawed team that existed before Klentak made the last of his deals to acquire Corey Dickerson from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Murphy noted that the Phillies’ star off-season additions — Realmuto, Jean Segura, and Bryce Harper — have all played pretty much like we should have expected.

Like a gift at Christmas, our latest Extra Innings podcast has arrived. Give it a listen as we critique Klentak’s roster building before the trade deadline.

Tonight: Jason Vargas makes his Phillies debut vs. Ivan Nova, 7:05 p.m.

Tomorrow: Aaron Nola goes against Ross Detwiler, 7:05 p.m.

Sunday: Drew Smyly faces Reynaldo Lopez in series finale vs. White Sox, 1:05 p.m.

Monday: Phils begin seven-game western trip in Arizona, 9:40 p.m.

Thursday: Start of a four-game series in San Francisco, 9:45 p.m.

The Phillies scored double-digit runs for the seventh time this season in their Thursday win over the Giants, and that’s not a lot in the Long Ball Era. Only Miami, with six, has had fewer double-digit offensive outputs this season among National League teams. Baltimore (6), Kansas City (5), the White Sox (5) and Detroit (4) have also had fewer.

In case you had not noticed, the other teams are all among the worst in baseball. Houston, with 16, has the most double-digit offensive games this season. Colorado, with 14, has the most in the National League.

On the flip side, the Phillies have allowed double-digit runs 10 times, the most in the NL East and tied for 12th most in baseball. The Orioles have allowed 20 double-digit run totals this season for the most in baseball, while the Dodgers have allowed a major-league-low three double-digit run totals.

Send questions by email or on Twitter @brookob.

Question: My question concerns J.T. Realmuto’s home run Thursday afternoon vs the Giants. If the San Francisco center fielder had caught the ball, but his glove was jarred off his hand by the fence and landed over the wall — with the ball still in the glove — is it a home run or out?

— Greg S., via email

Answer: Thanks, Greg. Here is what Rule 2.00 of the MLB rule book says: “A catch is the act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of a ball in flight and firmly holding it; providing he does not use his cap, protector, pocket or any other part of his uniform in getting possession.”

It does not address your specific question, and I have never seen what you are asking about happen. My interpretation of the rule is that it would not be a catch because the fielder would not have “secure possession” of either his glove or the ball.