New York Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud has been put on the disabled list with a rotator cuff strain in his right shoulder, the team announced on Monday.
Rene Rivera has been called up from Triple-A Las Vegas and he will backup Kevin Plawecki while d’Arnaud remains out.
Rivera, 32, will wear #44 and will be available for tonight’s game vs. Cincinnati. He made a career-high 87 starts last year with Tampa Bay and threw out 23 of 63 base runners, the third-best percentage (36.5) in the majors.
Overall, his career rate of 34.4 (73 of 212) of throwing out base runners is second among active catchers to Yadier Molina (40.3). Rivera was hitting .280 (7-25) with one double and five RBI in eight games with Las Vegas (AAA).
The Mets transferred RHP Zack Wheeler to the 60-Day DL to make room for Rivera on the 40 man roster. Wheeler is still expected to be back around July 1.
No word yet on how much time d’Arnaud could miss, but the hope is he’ll be back when eligible in 15 days. Still, this tough news for the 27-year old d’Arnaud who has lost over two hundred games to injury in his brief minor and major league career.
Original Report – April 25
Catcher Travis d’Arnaud left Monday’s game after the seventh inning with right shoulder discomfort and not the oblique issue they speculated during tonight’s SNY broadcast.
“I felt it bark up so I decided to say something and we’ll find out more about what’s going on with it Tuesday. I never experienced it before,” d’Arnaud said. “That’s why I said something, just to be safe. We’ll find out what it is.”
“Any time you’re talking about a shoulder problem with a catcher, it’s concerning,” manager Terry Collins said after the game.
Collins added that the injury came as a result of throwing, but he could not identify the play that caused the injury. Four different Reds combined to steal five bases against d’Arnaud in the game.
Team doctors are looking at him now and a stint on the disabled list has not been ruled out. Triple-A catcher Rene Rivera has been pulled from the game after one at-bat for Las Vegas, he’ll likely join the team if d’Arnaud was to go on the DL.
D’Arnaud is off to a rough start this season at the plate, batting .196 with a .542 OPS in 52 plate appearances with no home runs and one RBI.
