It's great for the Marlins to have one of the most athletic and prolific hitting catchers in all of baseball.
But J.T. Realmuto's biggest contribution during a season of growing pains for the Marlins figures to be as a mentor to their predominantly young pitching staff.
Realmuto, who is 20 games into his fifth season in the majors, has provided a steadying presence for a pitching staff with two rookies and a second-year starter in its rotation and three rookies in its bullpen.
"It's nice to have a guy that's been through it and been here long enough that they have confidence," Mattingly said. "That pitcher has confidence in the guy he's throwing to behind the plate."
With Caleb Smith and Jarlin Garcia showing improvement as well as better results from Jose Urena, the Marlins' rotation's ERA has risen from 5.64 where it stood through 19 games to 4.85 over the next 18.
"A lot of guys were trying to find their way at first," Realmuto said. "Attacking the strike zone and be aggressive and that will always put them in good counts and allow them to have success."
Garcia, who gave up only one hit during his first two career starts and two runs over his first four, endured his first dismal outing Monday in Chicago when he allowed seven runs in four innings.
"You just have to let them know it's going to happen," Realmuto said. "The game of baseball is so up and down that you're going to have great starts where you go seven innings with no runs and you're going to have starts where you feel great but gave up a few runs and others where you feel terrible. You just have to learn how to right the ship and stay as even keel as you can and stay as consistent as you can with your mind. That's one thing that's really hard with young guys."
Realmuto said he saw that consistency out of Jose Fernandez as they both made their rise to the majors, and he's seen it from Urena on this year's team.
"Being same guy every day," Realmuto said. "[Urena] has a good start or he has a bad start, he's the same guy. That's what you need to be a good starting pitcher in this game."
In addition to Smith and Garcia, the Marlins had rookies Dillon Peters and Trevor Richards in its rotation as well as reliever Merandy Gonzalez until recently. And the revolving door could continue as the Marlins continue to develop some of its potential starters such as Sandy Alcantara once he makes his debut.
Still, Realmuto said he's had fun being more of a teacher this season.
"It comes with the job, but especially with a younger staff it falls more on your shoulders to take care of those guys and take care of them and mentor them a little bit," Realmuto said. "I've enjoyed it."
