Phillies' J.T. Realmuto talks return from meniscectomy surgery, Rafael Marchan and more

welcome back how you feeling uh feel good feel good um you know moving around quite a bit better than it was a few days ago um was able to walk out of surgery and um you know it's been getting better every day so feel good when do you uh when do you think you'll be able to come back uh I mean it's hard to put an exact day on it today but you know I think just trus in what the the doctors and our training staff is saying I'm I'm assuming it should be right around that four-week Mark um I had this exact same procedure done in 2019 after the season so uh was able to recover that from that one pretty quickly so I I imagine um around that four 4 week Mark should be about the timing initially were you thinking that you could power through it for the rest of the year or did you kind of in the back of your mind know you had to some point get a procedure no as soon as we got the scan back and I just was going off of how it was feeling I was pretty sure I was going to need the surgery at some point this season um initially I thought maybe I'd be able to make it to the all-star break that was kind of just me thinking not that they weren't saying that necessarily but I just thought hopefully I could make it till then um but the pain just ended up coming more and more consistent and um just decided to go ahead and take care of it now you think when you're back that you'll be 100% or will there still be a little bit of something in your NE no I'll be 100% um like I mentioned I had this exact same procedure in 2019 and um from the day I had that procedure I didn't feel it again so um you know I expect this one to hopefully be the same to where once once I heal and once I get back on my feet I I shouldn't feel that that area that pain again JT that timeline also put you right around the allar break would you be a little more cautious maybe wait till after the break at this point I you would on in four weeks you would be the week before the break is it better to be safe than Sor here for sure it's definitely better to be safe than sorry I'm not going to I'm not going to push it and kill myself to come back for you know that 5 days before the break but if I'm feeling good and and the rehab has gone well and my body feels right um then I will go go ahead and play that that week before just to get the games in and um because for me I'd rather be able to play those few games before the break but if my body's not feeling right I'm not going to push it I think this is something that we want to take care of now and and not feel it in two months so for that reason I'm going to give it the rest it needs but um I Envision that hopefully I'll be back by then when did you get those scans because that when you miss the three games against Miami yeah given your nature how tough was it to agreed to do the surgery take care of it now rather than just play through it uh to be honest it wasn't tough it was it was a very mutual decision um they kind of gave me the leeway to to play as long as I could and and if I can deal with the pain then we'll just keep doing it um but like I said that the pain kept persisting it kept getting a little worse and then it was it was just affecting my play enough to where I felt like I needed to get it done so it didn't necessarily take any convincing from them it was a mutual decision with everything that you do for game plans are you still involved helping the catchers and the pitchers with the game plans for sure uh I wasn't able to obviously the the last couple series The Boston and Baltimore just because I was having surgery and I wasn't with the team um but you know now that I'm here I want to be able to help as much as I can so I'm still going to do my same report still do my same um game planning and then have conversations with Martian stubs and Caleb and they do a great job on their own but it's just you know the more conversation we can have the better so even if it's just watching watching the game and talking between about um adjustments we can make with the game plan you know I'm here to help them the best I can what do you think of the job Mar did last night specifically that must fun for to see yeah he did awesome I mean uh the hits are one thing the hits are great but just watch him working with sanche and the way he got him through that game um he threw the ball great just they mixed really well just uh he did a great job and and San is not an easy guy to catch and he you know he he had some really good blocks and key blocks in that game kept base runners threw the guy out he just had a really good all around game it was a they called it a menisectomy right so it was a removal is that right or yeah just a clean up so the they just go in where the tear was and there's a small piece that they just cut out and um that's why the the recovery timeline isn't too long because it's a pretty simple procedure and um they don't have to go they didn't repair anything they just cut a little piece out when you had it last time was it a repair no it was exact same thing same and does the way the last two seasons ended and the way this season's going so far kind of make it a little bit easier go ahead get cleaned up and be ready for October having a 10 n 10 game division right now yeah I think that was that that was a lot of the thought into it was that I don't want to be feeling this in O September and October um and the way it was going we knew we were going to need surgery eventually so I was hoping initially that I'd be able to make to the end of the season then after a week I was like H maybe I can make the allar break and then it just kept getting a little worse and worse and um we wanted to get it taken care of now so that I'm not feeling it later in the season is this predisposed to happen every two three years whatever just as you put winner terar on no I don't think so this is a this was a I mean I this was an exact play that this happened on it was a it was a game with the Giants that was really wet outside and I was rounding second base on a triple I hit and slipped a little bit and it happened on that play So this wasn't necessarily A wear and tear thing it was just a kind of a freak thing that just popped a little bit one game and you know I don't Envision it necessarily happening every two or three years know you how much of that going to be left when you're done there's a lot left yeah there's plenty left you say it's getting worse was that while you were catching running little bit of B just day to day Stu uh I would say it affected both but more I would have I had to change it my setup wise catching so I normally catch with my left knee down and I had to do a lot more right knee down setup which is a little uncomfortable for me but it also that that would help the pain go away while I caught but it still kind of hurt when I was running so it hurt both overall is is it kind a good time in the trey his back now getting back in that two hole while you're out yeah for sure I was joking with Trey when I first got put on the aisle that I was going to come back before him just because he'd been so long but he made it back before me and made fun of me yesterday so that didn't work out but no it's nice to get him back and uh you know obviously he's a huge part of this team and a big part of this lineup so I'm glad that he came back uh a lot quick quicker than I'm going to you to be with the guys as much as you can road trips and stuff yeah yeah uh the only games I was going to miss were the ones I I was having surgery but I'll be here the rest of the time thank you thank you