JT Realmuto returned to the Phillies clubhouse Tuesday afternoon, nearly a week after undergoing a meniscectomy on his right knee.
The procedure Realmuto underwent is less invasive than a full meniscus repair and is expected to sideline him for approximately 4 to 5 weeks. He hopes to be close to 100 percent around or shortly after the All-Star break (July 15-18).
“I’ll be 100%,” Realmuto said Tuesday before the Phillies’ halfgame against the Padres. “I had the exact same procedure in 2019, and since the day I had that procedure, I haven’t felt it again. So I hope this is the same; once I recover, I shouldn’t feel it.” pain in that area again.
“I would prefer to be able to play those few games before the break. But if my body doesn’t feel good, I’m not going to force it.”
He initially injured his knee around second base on May 4, the day after Trea Turner sprained his hamstring. Realmuto, who had been on the disabled list for only 10 days in six years as a Phillies before last week’s surgery, initially thought he would be able to play the rest of the year.
“At first I was hoping to make it through the season, but after a week I thought maybe I could make it to the All-Star break, and things just got worse and worse,” he said.
“We wanted to fix it now, so I won’t feel it later in the season. I thought about that a lot, I don’t want to feel this in September or October and the way it went.” “We knew we would eventually need surgery.”
Realmuto won’t resume baseball activities for a while, but in the meantime he’s helping Rafael Marchán and Garrett Stubbs with strategy.
“Now that I’m here, I want to be able to help as much as I can,” Realmuto said. “So I’ll keep doing my same reporting, keep game planning and then have conversations with Marchy and Stubbs and (pitching coach) Caleb Cotham.”
When Realmuto returns, it’s safe to say the Phillies will be careful with him. They probably won’t let him catch every inning six days a week like he’s done since 2019. It’s too important to his ultimate goal, and Realmuto’s drop to his backups is arguably greater than any other Phils’. ‘ alignment could experience.
“We’ll probably anticipate that a little bit,” Thomson said of a lighter workload in the second half, “but we’ll see how he does when he gets back.”
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