MLB Free Agent Signs Record Contract With $23.1 Million Salary

MLB’s best hitter available in free agency is staying put with a record-setting contract. The Philadelphia Phillies have reportedly agreed to a five-year deal with J.T. Realmuto.

The entire contract is worth $115.5 million, SportsGrid’s Craig Mish reports. Realmuto’s average yearly salary of $23.1 million is the highest for any catcher in baseball history.

Joe Mauer still holds the record among catchers with a $184 million contract. The deal lasted for eight seasons with the Minnesota Twins, paying him $23 million per season. Mauer last played in the 2018 season.

The San Francisco Giants gave Buster Posey an eight-year, $167 million extension in 2013. Posey is set to make $22.18 million in the 2021 season.

Mauer and Posey signed extensions before their contracts were up, making Realmuto's contract the largest ever signed by a catcher while in free agency.

Yasmani Grandal is entering the second season of his four-year, $73 million contract with the Chicago White Sox. Realmuto, Posey and Grandal are the only catchers who currently make at least $15 million a year.

Before Realmuto agreed to his contract, 23 players were set to make a salary north of $23 million next season, according to Spotrac. Of that group, 13 are position players.

It’s been a historic offseason for catchers. For the first time in the last three decades, two catchers have inked contracts of four years or more in the same offseason. The New York Mets gave James McCann a four-year, $40.6 million contract, taking them out of the J.T. Realmuto Sweepstakes.

The Atlanta Braves had also been pursuing Realmuto. The Braves wanted to give Realumto a shorter contract, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports.

Philadelphia traded for Realmuto before the start of the 2019 season. In two seasons with the Phillies, including last year’s 60-game season, Realmuto has hit .273/.333/.455 with 36 home runs in 192 games.

Realmuto is behind only Bryce Harper as Philadelphia’s highest-paid hitter. The outfielder is in the midst of a 13-year, $330 million contract.