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A manager pumps up his players. It is part of the job.

Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson pumped up J.T. Realmuto earlier this week after he made a couple of big plays in Tuesday’s 3-2 walk-off victory over the Marlins.

“J.T. has been playing fantastic baseball in every facet of the game,” Thomson said. “In my mind, I think he should be, at this point, maybe in the MVP conversation. I mean, that’s how important he is to our ballclub.”

I never really thought about Realmuto for NL MVP, but, yeah, he probably should receive some consideration, assuming he maintains his current level of play. Now, it should be said that Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt is the heavy favorite to win the award. Nolan Arenado, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Manny Machado might be favorites to round out the top five.

But BBWAA voters must place 10 players on the ballot, and Realmuto makes the Phillies’ strongest case to be on there somewhere.

Realmuto went 3-for-3 with a home run in Friday night’s 5-3 victory over the Nationals. He is slashing .273/.344/.464 with 16 home runs, 73 RBIs and an .808 OPS. Those are not prototypical MVP numbers. No position player to win MVP has had an on-base percentage of .344 or lower since Jimmy Rollins (.344) in 2007. And no position player to win MVP has had a slugging percentage of .464 or lower since Ichiro Suzuki (.457) in 2002.

But Realmuto started the season slowly. He slashed .237/.316/.364 with five homers, 28 RBIs and a .680 OPS through June 25, when Bryce Harper broke his left thumb. But the catcher elevated his play following Harper’s injury. Realmuto has slashed .317/.380/.587 with 11 homers, 45 RBIs and a .968 OPS since.

He entered Friday with a 3.4 WAR in that time, which is tied for fourth in baseball, according to FanGraphs.

Only Aaron Judge (5.2), Arenado (3.8) and Austin Riley (3.5) were better.

Everybody who watches Realmuto play knows he brings more value to the team than just his bat.

There is his defense and baserunning.

Realmuto entered Saturday leading NL catchers in Defensive Runs Saved with seven. He threw out his fifth consecutive runner trying to steal second base on Wednesday and has thrown out 25 of 60 basestealers overall. His caught-stealing total (27) is four more than any other catcher in baseball. His success rate of 42.2 percent is third highest.

Realmuto is brilliant at shutting down an opponent’s running game, because his pop time (1.82 seconds) is the best in baseball. His average arm strength (87.5) is third.

“He’s as good as it gets,” Thomson said.

Realmuto’s athleticism allowed him to make a remarkable play in the ninth inning on Wednesday. He ran 86 feet down the third-base line to catch a popup in foul territory. It’s the most distance covered by a catcher to make a putout this season. Statcast has tracked only four other plays in which a catcher has traveled further for a putout since 2015.

Realmuto is 17-for-17 in stolen-base attempts. Elias Sports Bureau said he is the first catcher to start a season 17-for-17 since “caught stealing” became an official stat in the AL in 1920 and NL in 1951. Realmuto is just the sixth catcher in baseball history to have 15 homers and 15 stolen bases in a season, joining Carlton Fisk in 1985, Russell Martin in 2007, Iván Rodríguez in 1999, Benito Santiago in 1987 and John Stearns in 1978.

His 17 stolen bases are the most by a Phillies catcher since Red Dooin’s 20 in 1908. They are the most by any catcher since Martin’s 18 in 2008. If Realmuto is not caught stealing this season, he will become only the third player since at least 1951 with at least 15 homers and at least 15 stolen bases without being caught.

Chase Utley in 2009 (31 homers, 23 stolen bases) and the Mets’ Kevin McReynolds (27 homers, 21 stolen bases) are the others.

You just don’t get production like this from a catcher.

“If he’s in the [MVP] conversation, then he’s at the top,” Thomson said. “Maybe that’s a little biased on my part because I see him every day and I know how important he is to our club. But he’s had an overall great year, baserunning, offense, defense, running the pitching staff. He’s just so valuable to us.”