Jarrod Saltalamacchia Placed on 7-day Concussion DL; J.T. Realmuto Recalled

Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a month of May to forget. For the month, Salty owned a slash line .177/.258/.241 and struck out in over 33% of his at bats. And when you remove his four hit game against the Giants in the middle of the month, his average dips to .135 for the month.

He was hoping that the end of the month of May would bring a end to his woes, both behind the plate and at the plate. Salatamacchia told the Miami Hearld the following:

"“I’ve had months like this and second halves like this. “As long as we’re winning, I’m not too worried about it.”"

The month of May seemed to take a bigger toll on Salty than the Marlins had hoped. Earlier this morning, the Marlins placed Saltalamacchia on the 7-day concussion DL:

Any time a player deals with a concussion this day in age, it’s always good to see a team take a proactive approach and take immediate action. Hopefully Salty can make a quick recovery and return to the Marlins lineup soon.

The Marlins have yet to announce when Saltalamacchia sustained his concussion. More on that will be available when we get more information.

To take Salty’s spot on the roster, the Marlins recalled catching prospect J.T. Realmuto. After a down 2013 season, Realmuto was ranked the #13 prospect by our Marlin Maniac top 20 prospect list. Here’s what I had to say about him before the season:

"13. J.T. Realmuto, CRealmuto was drafted as a short stop out of high school, but the Marlins decided to move him to catcher right away. Realmuto plays strong defense behind the plate, which is impressive for someone who started playing catcher in 2010. Throwing out 34% of base stealers in 2013 could get him to the majors, but if his bat can develop, Realmuto could become an above-average catcher down the road. With Jarrod Saltalamacchia signed for the next three seasons, the Marlins will move Realmuto along slowly and hope the 23-year old is ready to take over the catching for the team in 2017."

After slashing just .239/.310/.353 with a .308 wOBA in his first season in Double-A last season, Realmuto has enjoyed a much stronger 2014 campaign. In 2014, Realmuto owns a .304/.368/.509 slash line with a .394 wOBA. He has matched last season’s home run total (5) and has stolen 7 bases.

Realmuto has shown the Marlins that he can still be seen as the Marlins catcher of the future down the road. He earned his shot in the big leagues and it will be interesting how much playing time the Marlins give the 23-year old over the next week.

While he may not be completely big league ready now, he is still likely a better option that Jeff Mathis for manager Mike Redmond to run out there.

It however is interesting that the Marlins bypassed Rob Brantly, who is struggling in Triple-A, but has major league experience, in favor of Realmuto.