All of the beatings taken by J.T. Realmuto this season have added up to a point where he has been placed on the 15-Day IL with a lower back injury. The injury occurred Friday night when Realmuto had to stretch to catch a throw from right field on a play at the plate. He aggravated the injury in Tuesday night’s game when he had to stretch to catch a pitch from reliever Jose Alvarado.
Realmuto left Saturday night’s game in the seventh inning and missed both Sunday and Monday’s games because of the injury. He was back in the lineup Tuesday in Chicago, but was in obvious pain at times. This is just the third time in eight seasons with the Phillies that Realmuto has been on the IL. He was sidelined with a bruised hand in 2021 and in 2024 missed six seasons with a torn meniscus.
To fill Realmuto’s roster spot, the Phillies selected the contract of catcher Garrett Stubbs from Lehigh Valley. Stubbs is out of options and had to clear waivers to be assigned to Lehigh Valley at the start of the season. Since he had been removed from the 40-man roster, the Phillies cleared a spot for him there by moving reliever Max Lazar from the 15-Day IL to the 60-Day IL. Players on the 60-Day list do not count against the roster limit.
Rafael Marchan opened the season as Realmuto’s backup, but has struggled at the plate. Marchan, 27, has just two hits in 31 at-bats (.065) this season. Garrett Stubbs spent most of last season with Triple-A Lehigh Valley before returning to the majors in September. This season with the IronPigs, the 33-year-old Stubbs was hitting .289/.413/.632/1.045 in 10 games. He has played at third base and in left field in addition to serving as the team’s catcher.
Realmuto was batting .259/.344/.352/.696 in 61 plate appearances with one home run and four RBI.
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