Persistence and discipline -- two qualities necessary to earn a 10-pitch walk and flourish as a father of a newborn baby girl.
Just seven days after the birth of his first child, Gracie Laine Realmuto, Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto fouled off several tough pitches, earning a walk in his first plate appearance of the 2018 MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard on Tuesday night at Nationals Park.
• AL outslugs NL

Realmuto's restraint didn't stop there. In his second trip to the batter's box, he worked another walk and scored on Scooter Gennett's game-tying, two-run homer in the ninth.
"It was a great time. I hope I can do it plenty of more times in my career," Realmuto said. "You've got to appreciate the ones you do get. You never know when you get to come back, so I definitely had a lot of fun and I enjoyed it."
The first-time All-Star entered the game as a defensive replacement in the sixth. Realmuto caught a scoreless inning before stepping into the box against Houston's Charlie Morton in the seventh.
After working the count full, Realmuto fouled off four straight two-seam fastballs, making the right-hander labor with one out. On the 10th pitch, a cutter down and out of the zone, Realmuto held off for ball four.

In his second plate appearance, Realmuto didn't swing the bat, taking all five pitches from Mariners closer Edwin Diaz in the ninth. It didn't take long for Realmuto to circle the bases, as Gennett homered to right field two pitches later.

Tuesday's takes fall in line with the 27-year-old backstop seeing the ball incredibly well this season.
Realmuto dazzled in the first half, leading all NL catchers in average (.310), runs (46), slugging percentage (.536), OPS (.902) and WAR (3.8). He's second to Buster Posey and Yasmani Grandal in hits (85) and RBIs (45), respectively.