All-Star or not, J.T. will always be 'baby' of Realmuto family

PHILADELPHIA -- If not for his dad, maybe Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto would have been a wrestler everyone knew simply as Jake.

Wait ... Jake?

"J.T. was a nickname that my dad had given him and he was really the only one who called him that," Realmuto's sister, Ryan, explained. "But then when he got into middle school, he had a bunch of Jakes on his baseball team, and I think the coach or the other kids heard my dad calling him J.T. - and it just kind of grew from there."

Not at home, though.

To his mom and siblings, it's always been -- and still is -- "Jake." Occasionally, if he was in trouble, it was "Jacob Tyler." To his 11 nieces and nephews, it's now "Uncle Jake."

"J.T. was just never a thing for us,” Ryan said.

Credit Realmuto's dad, David, for not only giving his son the nickname that the entire baseball world knows him by, but also for playing the sport in the first place.

J.T. was surrounded by wrestling.

His mom, Margaret, came from a family of 10 kids that included four brothers, all of whom wrestled in college. One of those brothers, John Smith, won six consecutive world championships from 1987-92, including gold medals at the 1988 Olympics and '92 Olympics.

Most of J.T.'s many cousins wrestled. His older brother, Tony, wrestled. Even J.T. -- who used to put his uncle's gold medals around his neck as a kid -- wrestled until high school.

But J.T. ultimately chose baseball -- the sport his dad played collegiately at Southwest Missouri State.

"I just always loved baseball. I think it was something I kind of bonded with my dad over," said Realmuto, whose Phillies dropped an 8-0 decision to the Reds on Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park. "My dad still, to this day, he lives and dies on every pitch. He watches every game, every pitch. He gets pissed when we lose. If I have a bad at-bat, he's not happy about it."

Not in a bad way, of course.

"One thing I remember is my parents always being there at all my games, and how important that was to have them sitting in the stands," Realmuto said. "Whether I had a good game or a bad game, they were there to hug me afterwards and take me for ice cream."

Now a father of four like his own dad, those moments will certainly be a highlight for Realmuto in his next chapter.

"I definitely look forward to those days, for sure," he said. "Obviously, I want to play this game as long as I can and I'm not done yet, but I know the kids are ready to have me home. And I'm looking forward to being able to be there and just be a dad -- taking them to practice, sitting in the stands, watching them play."

For now, that responsibility falls to his wife, Lexi. Take this past week, when Realmuto and the Phillies were in the midst of a three-city, 10-day road trip through Arlington, Cincinnati and D.C.

Lexi was back home balancing nap time for the Realmutos' two boys -- ages 2 and 3 -- while shuttling their 6- and 7-year-old girls to and from tennis camp. Those same girls are also "loving T-ball."

"She's an incredible woman and a great mother," Realmuto said. "I wouldn't be able to do what I do without her taking care of everything back home. So, I'm definitely appreciative of all she does for me."

In a way, it's reminiscent of what J.T.'s mom used to do for him.

With his dad coaching Ryan and Amanda in softball, it was often Margaret who was running J.T. all over town for practices, games and tournaments.

"We always liked to tease him about being a momma’s boy," Ryan joked.

All these years later, the teasing hasn't quite stopped.

How could it? J.T. is, after all, the youngest of four.

"When he comes home, his siblings kind of put him back in his place," David said. "He knows he's the baby."

That "baby" has turned into a three-time All-Star big leaguer. He has a pair of Gold Glove Awards and three Silver Sluggers. He was the best all-around catcher in baseball for the better part of the past decade, and he is constantly praised for the way he commands an entire Major League pitching staff.

But that's J.T., not Jake.

"Nothing changes for our family as far as that goes," Ryan said. "He is, absolutely, the baby."

J.T. thought for a minute about how to best describe it. He wanted to convey it in a way that emphasized how meaningful it is to have a loving and supportive family that he can always just be himself around.

"They've always been one to keep me humble. That's just how my family works," Realmuto said. "They do it in a loving way, but they're there to let me know I'm not as good as I think I am, you know? That's kind of a weird way to say it, but with my uncle winning gold medals and being at the top of his craft and all that my siblings have done, like, they're unimpressed by anything I do."

That is, obviously, not true.

They could talk all day about Realmuto's baseball career and his achievements on the field. But they're far more impressed with the person he's grown into away from the ballpark.

"Seeing Jake as a husband and a father is my greatest thrill as a big sister, by far," Ryan said. "More than any of the baseball. Just the relationship he has with his wife and how he cares for her and treats her, and also how he fathers his four kids -- and how awesome those kids are."

Even his dad -- the man still living and dying with every pitch -- boasts more talking about Jake than J.T.

"I'm prouder of the man he is than the baseball player, because he's a great dad and he's got a great wife and they've got amazing children," David said. "That's the most important thing. Baseball's good, the money's great, but ...

"It's always been all about family."