Miami Marlins Best To Wear Jersey Number Series No. 11: J.T. Realmuto

There has been no shortage of All-Star caliber talent at the catcher position for the Miami Marlins.

However, when it comes to that Marlins WAR tally that Marlin Maniac's Best To Wear The Miami Marlins Jersey Number Series, one name stands apart.

J.T. Realmuto.

Will I be calling him the greatest catcher in Marlins history? To quote that geriatric Steve Rogers meme, "No, I don't believe I will." Mike Piazza technically did play here. Ivan Rodriguez did so for a whole season and won a championship. Charles Johnson won a championship too along with 3.2 Gold Gloves. So from that standpoint, Realmuto is at best in third place, and probably fourth. Still ahead of two other stud Marlins catchers in Benito Santiago and Paul Lo Duca though.

Still, that 13.8 Marlins career WAR...it's impressive stuff.

That's good for ninth all-time for a Marlins hitter, ahead of luminaries like Jeff Conine, Gary Sheffield, and the previously mentioned Johnson. Realmuto caught the franchise's sixth no-hiitter in 2017, and made the All-Star team in 2018. Yet the fact that he shared a position with Yaider Molina and Buster Posey and played for a small market team probably played too large a part in Realmuto not earning more accolades in a Marlins uniform. From the moment he burst onto the scene in 2015, he was great- so great in fact that he was able to steal the starting catcher job right out from under an established, high priced veteran in Jarrod Saltalamacchia (spelling this correctly is one of the ultimate Marlins fandom tests btw).

Enough about J.T. though, because it's time for those honorable mentions.

Standing well above the rest of the pack in second place is Chris Hammond of the 1993-1996 Marlins, who had a 3.4 WAR career in teal. The 1995 campaign saw his best work, with three complete games and two shutouts helping him to a 2.5 WAR finish. The fact those three other seasons only come out 0.9 WAR worth of value tells you a bit more about the overall resume: 29-32 record with a 4.52 ERA. Still, an original and valuable Marlin from back in the day.

Beyond that, time for some shortstop love. Which is perhaps a bit ironic considering that's the position from which Realmuto played in high school.

Your technical second place answer here is actually Miguel Rojas, who lands in third for our purposes here because he spent just one season in the No. 11 jersey in 2022, his last year with the Marlins. That effort was good for a 2.5 WAR season that stands well above other names in No. 11 like Robert Andino, Alejandro De Aza, and Bryan Petersen.

Oh, and one other player- Alex Gonzalez.

WAR can be pretty crazy sometimes, but this was a new level of jawdropping lunacy for me, finding out that the entire Miami Marlins career of the greatest defensive shortstop in team history was worth 1.8 points of Marlins WAR. There were three seasons of double-digit homers in there after all, along with the dazzling glove work. How could it be this low?

Well, the tongue-in-cheek response would be to point to the 3,140 at-bats that didn't result in a home run. He was a pretty terrible hitter overall, with that .291 Marlins OBP being the best example of a player that was almost as big of a black hole in Miami's lineup as he was for grounders hit to the left side of the infield. Another complication for this Jersey Series at any rate is that parts of his first two seasons came in different jersey numbers, so he can't even get full credit for that 1999 All-Star appearance- the only one of his career.

Still, a player that deserved at least one Gold Glove and hit one of the most epic, impactful home runs in Miami Marlins franchise history? Worthy of some love here despite the massive WAR edge enjoyed by Realmuto.

Back next time at No. 10 with an entry that should need no introduction, even if it appears some gatekeepers of baseball's institutions disagree.