J.T. Realmuto on the love from Philly fans, the World Series or bust mindset, and prepping for games

it is Sunday so on Sunday we' like to welcome in our Sunday sitdown guest and today it is Philly catcher JT real Muto first of all thanks for being here with us um I would say you're about to enjoy an off day but I'm not sure if you enjoy off days I know you want to be out there on the field uh but you're not going to play today yeah uh especially after feeling good last night at the plate sometimes you don't want to take those days off but uh we had this one planned I think four or five days ago so going to enjoy it what are those conversations like with with Rob I mean are you uh are you fighting to get into the lineup every day I mean I know you understand the need for days off obviously to to let the body heal but are are you battling to try and get in there most of the time yeah Tom and I have got to know each other pretty well though um so he usually gives me an idea of when my day is going to be off at least like four days in advance cuz if he tries to drop it on me suddenly like the night before I'll usually be like no I'm good like I want to play but for some reason it works better when he gives me like three or 4 days notice and says hey this is going to be your off day then I kind of I usually accept it a little easier that way I mean obviously you do need time off right to let the body heal the playing catcher in the big leagues playing catcher at any level really but in the big leagues it's such a a demanding position physically mentally um the time off it's good for you physically but what about mentally when you do you take a step back and and kind of watch the game a different way yeah honestly I think that's it's more important mentally than it is physically for for catchers and for me to get a day off it it's just there's so much stress that goes along with catching so much thought and like running through a lineup doing your Scouting Report trying to get Bobby Whit Jr out four times in the game like that stuff stressful so just being able to sit back and actually watch the game and enjoy it a little bit um yeah I think that I think the mental break is just as important as the physical can you talk a little bit about what it is that you and Garrett and the pitching staff do on a daily basis to get ready for you know a lineup like the Royals or or any major league lineup because I don't know that Folks at home really understand the amount of work that goes into getting prepared for the game yeah so I mean uh before every game there's usually at least an hour hour and a half of whoever's catching that day either me or stsy will do our prep um you're just diving into their lineup basically diving into each hitter you watch video on them uh you see their strengths their weakness is what pitches they hit well what pitches they don't hit well what counts they're aggressive in what counts are not aggressive when they chase when they don't chase there's just there's so many nuances to calling a game and um having the right information and then all that really does is is prepare you to go out there and you feel equipped to call a game but then once you get in the game you have to be able to make adjustments and um sometimes go against what The Scouting Report would say just to keep it fresh and not be able to be too um not have them be able to know what you're doing to him how much of it is knowing your pitcher and understanding whether they like to throw to their strengths to the the batter's weaknesses I mean there there's a lot that plays in right absolutely and uh we always it's always your pitch your strengths first you know you you can get lost in a scouting report and trying to attack their weaknesses but if that's not what your guy on the mound does well then you're you're just making things harder on yourself so we always start with what our pitchers do well and that's that's the foundation of how we pitch and then we take what they do well we take the hitter's weakness and use that inside of what they do well you know so if if somebody's not a good slider hitter but one of our pitcher doesn't really command a slider and it's not a great pitch for we're not going to use the slider we're going to go with his strengths before we go with the hitter's weakness and then what about you in terms of reading swings are are you doing that uh with every hitter are you doing that with particular hitters how does that work for you yeah every hitter for the most part and you usually know um what hitters after playing them time and time you start to learn their instincts and how they go about their back like to say whether if they're laid on a fastball you know which guy's like hey if he's laid on one fastball he's not going to be laid on the next one or there's some guys who they're late on the fastball because they're looking for a slider because they're sitting soft and they're going to stay with that approach so it's a it's a Nuance like You' got to constantly play that game and cat and mouse of of trying to figure out are they just late or are they sitting on a slider and it's it's a it's a intricate part of the game that not a lot of people get to experience yeah it's a thinking man's position for sure but there's also such a high level of toughness that comes with the catching position and I had this conversation with stsy not too long ago but let me ask you uh just that that intrinsic toughness I mean has that always been something that you've possessed because you know again mentally and physically you need to be pretty darn tough back there to to to make it and and and to last yeah uh I think I think so I think it's been something that even since I was a kid just kind of ingrained in me I I don't know if it was my older brother my sisters always beating up on me when I was young younger I had three older siblings and I was took the brunt of all the beating so I don't know if that made me tougher or what but um I it's just something I take pride in I know it's a demanding position and it's it's physically and mentally grueling but um I wouldn't have it want it any other way like it's I just I take a lot of pride in it and when catching is going well and the team's winning um it's something to be proud of so I enjoy that aspect of it it wasn't always catching for you right I mean I'm right when I say in high school you were a infielder you were shortstop I think when when did Catching become the your route when did when did someone say hey maybe behind the plate is where to go so I was a short stop all growing up Middle School uh High School played Short I happened to catch two games in high school just because our catcher was starting pitching that day and we didn't have another catcher so they just threw me behind the plate and um a Marlin Scout Stan Meek happened to be at the game that day and he talked to me immediately after he goes hey I know you haven't done this much but we really like your tools behind the plate if we drafted you would you be interested in catching and I basically told him I mean hey and I was like 18 years old first time ever catching it was my senior year of high school and I was like I mean hey if you think it'll get me to the big leagues I'll do whatever you want so they drafted me and uh immediately I never even took an infield glove to Miami they I pretty much knew right when I got drafted I was going to try catching first and we always had in the back of our minds that like if catching didn't work out I'd just go back to playing the infield so but it worked out baseball was just one of the three sports that that you played you started in high school um for you was baseball always the path I mean I know you had opportunities to play Big Time college football as well and but did you think to yourself I'm going to you know baseball is really probably my best option I would say yes I I think I and I loved football football was I still high school football is probably the most fun I've ever had in sports but I just knew from the time I was 5 six years old like I had a bat and a ball in my hand my dad played baseball in college so like I just grew up on the ball field and I always loved it so I I was pretty sure from a young age that baseball was the Avenue that I wanted to to go after and um I got a little better at football in high school than I was expecting to be so like that kind of made things interesting where there was a there was a short period of time sophomore junior year where I was like you know what maybe maybe I'll chase this football thing but it was always baseball for me all right let's talk a little bit about this particular team you get a chance to catch uh a pitching staff that's had great success this year but you know think about guys like Zack Wheeler Aon Nola guys that have such you know great pedigree and have been so successful at the big league level that's got to be a lot of fun for for you and for Garrett to to be able to manage a staff like this right absolutely and uh I think it goes back to what we were talking about earlier about do we pitch with our guys hit with our guys strengths or do we attack their weaknesses our starting pitchers they all have so many strengths like they can all do so many things that it's it makes where we can really attack the hitters and like have them on the defense because you've got wheeler nolles Rangers sanche they all throw fast balls sliders change UPS everything for strikes everything's quality pitches they throw them for Chase when they need to they're just from top to bottom our rotation um they're fun to catch they're they stay on the attack they keep the hitters guessing it's like it's they're a lot of fun to work with h in terms of the bullpen I know you got guys that uh you know I think back four or five years ago uh and the difference that this Bullpen is now with the with the velocity that's that's in virtually every one of the arms that's out there um does that add challenges to you in terms of of a catcher when when they're you know they're humping it up there at 100 milph there's no doubt yeah I tell I told everyone uh last year in spring training when we put our Bullpen together and it was everybody was throwing 95 to 100 I was like this is going to be a tough year for catching for the Phillies cuz they're but the good thing is I know if they're hard to catch they're really hard to hit so that's that works well for our Bullpen they they throw the ball great like you mentioned it's just power stuff from top to bottom out there you see guys on a nightly basis that just come in and dominate so they're a lot of fun to catch as well a lot different to catch like they're harder a little tougher to maneuver cuz it's more power stuff and more just coming right at you with most of the guys are two- pitch guys as opposed to our starters who are more pitching and moving the baseball around um but it's a it's a really good combo for us it works well well it's worked well all season long this team got out to the almost in a historic start in terms of the record and the wins uh slumped a little bit over the the course of the last couple of weeks but the expectations I would imagine to a man in there in that Clubhouse you wouldn't have it any other way right it's it's World Series or bust kind of mentality uh certainly for the city of Philadelphia but I think that's exactly what you guys are thinking too is that fair statement yeah for sure I mean that's been our that's we we haven't been scared to say that since spring training I mean we think this team was built to win and it's built to win a World Series so anything short of that um you know we wouldn't have reached our ultimate goal whether we win the division win a postseason series get to the World Series none of that stuff is good enough for our team we want to we want to win the World Series and that's our only goal how much can you draw from the last two years because you know 2022 right there couple games away from winning a World Series last year ended a a little bit sooner than I think anyone really expected but I would imagine you can learn an awful lot from that as well right for sure I think in 2022 we were the team that kind of nobody expected to be there so we were just riding the high riding the momentum and then last year we get in there against the Diamondbacks and we were the favorite uh some people would say the heavy favorite and we we didn't win the series so like getting to feel that pain and and hopefully learn and grow from that experience um this year uh should help us to to be able to play a little better in those situations where hopefully we're favorites in more of the series than not and uh you know going through that last year I think will help us learn from it we're here in Kansas City and I know last night uh you were coming off the field after doing the TV and radio interviews and just another huge throng of Phillies fans standing over the Dugout the city of Philadelphia is is unique in in a lot of ways but in terms of their their fan base how much fun is it to to see them everywhere you go and and to know that you know they're living and dying with every pitch just like you guys are it's incredible honestly just the the support that we've had on the road the last couple years has been unbelievable this year has been the best I've ever seen I mean everywhere we go it's like this where there's Phillies fans packed throughout every single Stadium we're um Ranger and I were walking in yesterday and he goes man there's a lot of red in here you know like you see so much red within this blue stadium that uh it just makes it so much fun to play and it almost obviously it's not a home game but it it makes you feel at home when you have this many Philly fans everywhere you go all right all right before I let you go like to finish up with some uh quick hitters some some light questions to have some fun with you're from Oklahoma that we know uh major major country music stars that come out of Oklahoma G Brooks Vince Gil Blake Shelton Toby Keith four guys from Oklahoma if you could only listen to one of them for the rest of your life who you picking I'm going g g Brooks yeah he's he's probably top three or four country artist for me so always been a huge fan met him a couple times um he's definitely the one I'm listening to he's a big baseball fan too yes he loves baseball I know he does he's got a pretty good swing all right father of four you're a father of four uh when you're home you're in dad mode and and mom needs an hour or two to herself what are you doing where are you taking the kids what are you doing with the kids to keep them occupied I got pretty lucky so my two oldest are girls um but they are obsessed with the things that I'm obsessed with so like if we're in Florida uh they love to go fishing so we'll all go fishing together U they're obsessed with golfing right now so if I take them to the to the driving range they'll just hit balls for hours and like I'm I'm ready to go home and they're like no Dad we want to keep going so anytime we need to get out it's worked out great to where I'll either take them fishing golfing sometimes sometimes we'll go just grab some ice cream if if it's a short trip and uh get them out that way but yeah masas always need their break so it's nice to have kids that like to do some outdoor stuff that I can have fun with no doubt about it all right finally uh take a look at your pitching staff starters Bullpen whoever you want which pitcher on the Phillies do you think would make the best catcher who has the mentality that they could be a catcher I'm going to say uh I'm gonna go Jose Ruiz I think for one he caught before he used to be a catcher um I don't know if he was in the minor leagues or in the winter leagues but he was telling us no his minor leagues cuz he told us a story one time on the bus he said he goes yeah I caught for three seasons I was a 300 hitter three uh minor league Seasons I was I hit 300 100 100 100 so so I guess he wasn't too good of a hitter but I think he he probably caught pretty good he's got a pretty good arm well he's found his calling now out there in the bullpen but uh yeah no doubt about it JT always good to talk to you I appreciate your time of course thanks for having me all right JT we mute to Our Guest we'll take a quick break but we've got more to come so stay with us on the Phillies Radio Network