Miami Marlins: Fish Backstop Gets Recognition

The Miami Marlins have possibly one of the best young catchers in the Major Leagues. J.T. Realmuto is still very early in his career and is have the start of a lifetime to this season.

Miami Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto has been named National League Player of the Week for the first week of the season. Realmuto displayed a masterful line of .500/.542/.909 along with two long balls and six RBIs.

The numbers that Realmuto has been putting up for the Marlins to start the season are unreal. Over the last few years, Realmuto has proven himself to be improving at a steady rate.

After stealing the starting position from the switch hitting Jarrod Saltalamacchia in 2014, Realmuto has not looked back. The 26 year-old backstop has put up impressive numbers to start his career.

Last season, in just his second year starting, Realmuto slashed .303/.343/.428 with 11 homers and 48 RBIs. In comparison Yadier Molina in his second year hit .252/.295/.358 with eight home runs and 49 RBIs.

Am I saying that the Marlins have the next “Yadi”? No, not by any means. But, the Fish do have a unique talent that you do not see behind the plate often.

Key Attributes

Realmuto is arguably one of the most athletic catchers in the big leagues. Last season he had more steals than any other catcher. The way he moves for a catcher is something unlike anything else.

More from Marlin Maniac

• Miami Marlins news: Another target gone
• Why didn’t the Miami Marlins sign JDM?
• Miami Marlins rejected Boston‘s trade offer
• Miami Marlins are pursuing Michael Conforto
• Miami Marlins need to spend to win

The power that he has for a catcher is about average for what you would want. In the 2016 season Realmuto finished 9^th out of National League catchers in the home run category, still rather impressive.

Playing catcher for 137 games can be exhausting, but, that is how many Realmuto was crouched down behind the plate for. While this kind of durability is great to have, the Marlins would like to save Realmuto’s knees moving forward.

That is why they have discussed the possibility of him playing some games at first instead of Justin Bour against left-handed pitching.

Remaining under club control until 2021, I would say that the Marlins are pretty secure at the catcher position. Pair that with the fact that we will be keeping our core lineup of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna, and Dee Gordon until at least 2020.

This lineup seems very secure for the immediate future which will be very good for the restocking of the Marlins depleted Minor League system.

Next: Miami Marlins vs Atlanta Braves: Three Stories To Watch

All the Fish need now is productive pitching and we may be looking at a playoff ready team.