![\"Philadelphia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2235794555-e1766794213893.jpg\")
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Phillies sign a catcher as J.T. Realmuto remains a free agent.<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> made an intriguing free agent move on Friday.<\/p>\n Philadelphia could have a new catcher<\/a> in 2026 with J.T. Realmuto still a free agent. Although the Phillies have shown interest in bringing back Realmuto, the veteran is still on the market and has interest from other teams.<\/p>\n With that, MLB insider Will Sammon of The Athletic reported<\/a> on Friday that the Phillies signed catcher Mark Kolozsvary to a minor league deal, which includes an invite to major league spring training.<\/p>\n Kolozsvary is more of a depth option for the Phillies, as he would be a Triple-A catcher, but could also compete for the backup job. But the signing adds some insurance should Realmuto sign elsewhere this offseason.<\/p>\n Kolozsvary spent last season in the Boston Red Sox<\/a> organization, playing mostly in Double-A, but did appear in Triple-A. He hit .253 with 5 home runs and 17 RBIs as he\u2019s a contact-first catcher. But in seven games in Triple-A, he hit .455 with a home run and 8 RBIs, which showed his bat could translate to the higher levels.<\/p>\n The 5-foot-8 catcher is solid defensively and has appeared in 20 career MLB games. Kolozsvary last played in the majors in 2023 with the Baltimore Orioles<\/a>, as he played in one game, but didn\u2019t get an at-bat. He played in 10 games with the Cincinnati Reds<\/a> in 2022, hitting .200 with 1 home run and 3 RBIs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Phillies Focused on Adding a Catcher<\/p>\n Philadelphia has had a relatively quiet offseason, but the team is focused on adding a catcher, whether that\u2019s Realmuto or not.<\/p>\n Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said on a Zoom call earlier this month that the team is looking at the catcher market.<\/p>\n \u201cCatcher is really our main focus,\u201d Dombrowski said<\/a>. \u2026 \u201cI think as far as our everyday positional players, other than catcher, we\u2019re pretty well set.\u201d<\/p>\n Realmuto has been with the Phillies since 2019 and is a key part of the core. Yet, no deal has been reached, despite Dombrowski saying the two sides continue to talk.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to stay in contact. But probably not a lot different than where we\u2019ve been in the past,\u201d Dombrowski added. \u201cSo we just continue to grind along and see if we can come up with a solution. We\u2019ve talked consistently about trying to sign J.T. and we remain that way. But, you know, we haven\u2019t been able to get it done so far.\u201d<\/p>\n Realmuto hit .257 with 12 home runs and 52 RBIs<\/a> last season with the Phillies.<\/p>\n Philadelphia Exploring Catcher Market<\/p>\n Realmuto is the top catcher available in free agency, but the Phillies are keeping their options open.<\/p>\n Phillies insider Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported that the team is looking at the free agent market as well as the trade market to acquire a catcher.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Phillies and Realmuto are locked in a standoff, league sources said,\u201d Gelb wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe club has discussed various multiyear offers with Realmuto, who continues to explore the market. A reunion makes sense for both sides. That, still, is the expectation. But, as Realmuto seeks a better offer, the Phillies have pursued trade alternatives. Realmuto\u2019s return is not guaranteed.\u201d<\/p>\n Relamuto is a three-time MLB All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger Award Winner, and two-time Gold Glove Award winner.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tCole Shelton<\/a> Cole Shelton covers the NHL, MLB and Cleveland Browns for Heavy.com. He has covered pro and college sports since 2016, including bylines at BJ Penn, USA Today, SB Nation, Rotowire, Canadian Baseball Network and more. More about Cole Shelton<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Phillies\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Phillies sign a catcher as J.T. Realmuto remains a free agent. The Philadelphia Phillies made an intriguing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-374202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}