The Philadelphia Phillies will have to wait before seeing dividends of their five-year, $115.5 million mega-deal they gave catcher JT Realmuto earlier this offseason.
Phillies manager Joe Girardi revealed on Thursday that Realmuto is set to miss a month of action due to a broken thumb on his throwing hand. According to Girardi, the 29-year-old player suffered the injury while being engaged in a practice session with the bullpen a few days ago.
The injury is set to cost Realmuto a majority, if not all, of spring training, but the team hopes the All-Star will be good to go on Opening Day.
In a chat with reporters later on Thursday, Realmuto said his thumb is feeling better already and believes he could be in for a quick recovery.
“We’re obviously going to be cautious with it,” said Realmuto. “I feel pretty confident that after that two weeks, it’ll be healed because it already feels quite a bit better than it did the day that it happened.”
JT Realmuto had a slight drop-off in his production in 2020 compared to the previous two seasons but still managed to retain his place as one of the best catchers in baseball. He finished the campaign with a .266 batting average while adding 11 home runs and 32 RBIs.
At the end of the season, the player declined the Phillies’ qualifying offer and hit free agency. Still, the two sides managed to make a deal that made Realmuto the highest-paid catcher in league history with a $23.1 million annual salary.
