J.T. Realmuto was back in 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 expects to be close to 100 percent around or soon after the All-Star break (July 15-18).
"I'll be at 100%," Realmuto said Tuesday before the Phillies' middle game against the Padres. "I had this exact same procedure in 2019, and from the day I had that procedure, I didn't feel it again. So I expect this one to be the same where once I get back on my feet, I shouldn't feel pain in that area again.
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“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."
He initially injured the knee rounding second base on May 4, the day after Trea Turner strained his hamstring. Realmuto, who had been on the injured list for just 10 days in six years as a Phillie before last week's surgery, thought at first that he might be able to play through it the rest of the year.
"I was hoping initially that I'd be able to make it through the season, then after a week it was like maybe I can get to the All-Star break, and it kept getting worse and worse," he said.
"We wanted to get it taken care of now so I'm not feeling it later in the season. That was a lot of the thought into is that I don't want to be feeling this in September or October and the way it was going, we knew we would need surgery eventually."
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Realmuto won't be resuming baseball activities for a little while but in the meantime is helping Rafael Marchan 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'm still going to do my same reports, still do my same game-planning, and then have conversations with Marchy and Stubbs and (pitching coach) Caleb Cotham."
When Realmuto does return, it's safe to say the Phillies will be careful with him. They probably won't have him catch every inning six days a week the way he'd been going since 2019. He's too important to their ultimate goal, and the drop-off from Realmuto to his backups is arguably bigger than any other the Phils' lineup could experience.
"Probably anticipate that a little bit," Thomson said of a lightened workload in the second half, "but we'll see how it is when he gets back."