This Underrated Catcher Put Up Prime J.T. Realmuto Numbers in 2025

J.T. Realmuto has been considered one of the best all-around backstops in baseball over his time with the Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins, and while he's beginning to slow down a little bit in his mid-30's, there's a catcher out there that just had a very Realmuto-esque season in 2025.

That would be A's catcher Shea Langeliers, who broke out in a big way this season, posting a 132 wRC+ across 123 games, putting up 3.9 fWAR in the process. Of course, Seattle's Cal Raleigh is now widely considered the top backstop in baseball these days, but his season wasn't a mirror to Realmuto's 2018. Raleigh is playing in his own league.

Ahead of the 2024 campaign, we asked the A's clubhouse which player on the team they felt was going to break out. A number of them said Langeliers, and he did to a degree, putting up a 109 wRC+ (100 is league average), his highest to date. But it was former teammate Aledmys Díaz that dropped the Realmuto comparison on him, and in 2025 he was completely correct in that assessment.

Here is how the two backstops matched up in their age-27 seasons.

Langeliers vs. Realmuto

The two real big separators here are that Langeliers had ten more homers than Realmuto, while the Marlins backstop had the higher on-base percentage. Otherwise, those stat lines are more or less identical.

What's impressive about this is that Shea's 132 wRC+ is actually a level of play that Realmuto has yet to reach in his career, and this season back in 2018 was the best one he'd put up until 2022 when he held a 129 wRC+ in his fourth season with the Phillies.

The one argument that some may be inclined to make is that Realmuto is a better defensive catcher, but the two pair up nicely in those stats, too. Langeliers' pop time edges him out by a hair (1.89 to 1.90), while Shea's blocking is league average, and Realmuto put up a -1 that season. His framing was slightly better, however, putting up a +1 compared to Shea's -2.

That said, with the implementation of ABS next season, framing won't matter as much as calls can just be challenged.

Finally, the two catchers also finished with the same sprint speed (28.6 feet per second) in their age-27 seasons. At that point, the similarities are a little freaky.

How Did Realmuto Age?