‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: J.T. Realmuto on thinking he might leave, Nick Castellanos’ exit, and more
The catcher is back for an eighth season with the Phillies. But for a week in January, he wasn't sure he'd return. He talked to The Inquirer about that and more on "Phillies Extra."
CLEARWATER, Fla. — J.T. Realmuto is in spring training with the Phillies for the eighth consecutive year.
But for a week in January, he wasn’t sure he’d be back.
Realmuto sat down last week with Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, to talk about his start-and-stop contract talks, which included a call in which president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told the star catcher’s agent that the team was heading in a different direction.
In addition, Realmuto discussed the Phillies’ decision to release Nick Castellanos, offered his outlook for the starting rotation in 2026, and more.
Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Phillies Extra podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Q: Take me back to that week in January and how seriously you began thinking that you might be somewhere else this year.
A: It was definitely a pretty hectic maybe 48 hours for us. Obviously there were the rumblings about the [Bo] Bichette stuff going on, and then, we were kind of at a standstill with the Phillies for quite a while. It had been all the way dating back to December at that point where there was no momentum. We had many conversations. There was just no momentum on the deal moving anywhere. So, yeah, I got a little stressful there for a couple days where we weren’t sure what was going to happen. Started kind of thinking about our other options and putting the logistics together of what it might be like to go somewhere else. And thankfully it didn’t come to that, because as we’ve stated all along, this is where we wanted to be. So, we’re happy we didn’t have to up and move and go somewhere else.
» READ MORE: J.T. Realmuto ‘never felt like a Plan B’ for Phillies while continuing fight to boost pay scale for catchers
Q: How much confidence do you have in this starting rotation, and how do you feel about how that group shapes up again going into 2026?
A: I love it. I don’t think there’s any secret that this starting pitching is one of the main strengths of our team. And it’s going to be what gets us to where we want to go. Similar to last year, we were so good in the regular season because of our starting pitching, and they’re going to be the horses we ride again all year long.
It’s obviously not ideal. Losing Ranger [Suárez to the Red Sox] is going to be tough. But also [Zack] Wheeler starting on the IL most likely, it’s tough to replace those type of innings. But we have the depth, and we have the guys back there to do it. You’ve got [Andrew] Painter coming back after being healthy for a full season, coming off that injury. I think he’s going to be big for us this year. [Jesús] Luzardo, [Cristopher] Sánchez, [Aaron] Nola, those guys, Taijuan [Walker] is throwing the ball great for us. So we just have to lean on those guys. And the Phillies are going to go how those guys go. And it’s a really good group to ride with.
Q: There are people back in Philly who are saying the Phillies are running it back, and it’s been the same core for the last four or five years. How do you avoid it becoming kind of a stale feeling in the clubhouse?
A: I understand the narrative that comes from the fans, the media, just the fact that it’s largely the same team. But as far as staleness goes, inside the clubhouse, we don’t feel any. We’re still as hungry as we’ve ever been, because we haven’t been able to finish the job. Obviously, we’ve been a very good regular-season team the last few years, had a couple pretty good postseason runs, but we just haven’t been able to get over that hump and win the World Series. We’re still very hungry for that. So, there’s definitely no sense of staleness in the clubhouse. We still really enjoy each other. We love to hang out. We get along together well.
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So, the recipe is there. We have the pieces to win a championship. We all know that. I think the fans and the media know that as well. It’s just a matter of putting it together and playing our best baseball at the right time. Last year ... I know we lost [in the NLDS to the Dodgers], 3-1, but the series was very close. Every game was very close, one play here and there changes that whole series, so we didn’t feel overmatched. If we play our best brand of baseball, we feel like we can beat anybody. And obviously the Dodgers are the team to chase down right now because they won two in a row, and they even got better this offseason. So, I feel like we have as good a chance as anybody to take them down. They’re going to be the favorites. But in my opinion, the Phillies are right up there with them, and we have as good a chance as anybody to beat them.
Q: How difficult was last year for Nick Castellanos, and what were you guys trying to do to make sure that you could try to keep Nick in the right frame of mind?
A: Yeah, I’m sure it was tough on him, just coming from the career he’s had, and just being an everyday player, getting everyday at-bats his whole career, being able to have the transition into that role of playing less. That can’t be easy for anybody. And everybody knows Nick. Sometimes he’s going to say what’s on his mind, and that rubs some people wrong, and others love him for it. So, that’s just who he is, and he’s always going to be that way.
So, I’m sure it’s not easy going through what he went through. But to be honest, now that he’s going to be moving on [to the Padres] and hopefully get another good opportunity for himself, I think he would say the same — that it’s best for both parties, just based off of everything that went on last year. And we obviously wish him the best. Our clubhouse loves Nick. I know that some people have feelings about him, but Nick was always a great teammate to me. I love that guy, and I wish him the best moving forward.
» READ MORE: A beer in the dugout, a benching, and a rift with his manager: Inside the final Phillies season for Nick Castellanos
Q: What does it do for a team when you can inject some youth like Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter, and Aidan Miller into a roster?
A: It’s awesome. I think it’s just a spark for our team, especially our team where everybody talks about how old we are. So, it’s nice that [we’re] finally getting some young pups in the mix. What was our last youth wave — [Bryson] Stott, [Alec] Bohm, those guys. Bringing those guys up and being able to kind of take them under our wings and show them how to be big leaguers, that stuff is fun for us, for the older guys, and really being able to teach them how to win and show them what matters in this game. Our minor league system does a good job of having guys prepared when they come up, how to act like professionals, and how to play winning baseball. So, it’s always fun for us to get them in the clubhouse and make them feel like part of the team.