New York Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud was forced to start Wednesday night at third base for the first time in his career.

During the game against the New York Yankees the Mets bounced him around second and third to keep him away from the hitters pull side. It worked with him never getting a ground ball and only one pop-up in the ninth inning.

Wilmer Flores was scratched from the original lineup and Jose Reyes was later scratched too after leaving batting practice in pain. Both are dealing with a sore left rib cage.

With the Mets infield and bench shorthanded, both Matt Reynolds and Gavin Cecchini were held out of the Las Vegas 51s lineup. Both were flown to New York in case the Mets need to activate them for Thursday night against the Yankees.

Before the game on Wednesday, Mets GM Sandy Alderson said that they wouldn’t be trying to get Cecchini regular time at second base down the stretch and did say that they want Reynolds to get regular playing time because he hasn’t received many at-bats in majors yet.

To me this is pretty crazy and not what I think they should do at all. Reynolds, albeit in a small sample size, has struck out 35.6% of the time in the majors leagues with a .642 OPS. Reynolds certainly does have versatility, he’s played left field, center field, shortstop, second and third base this year in the minors. His upside is a utility guy that is a solid defender up the middle.

On the other hand, Cecchini has played well in an extremely small major league sample size with a .300/.330/.500 slash line in nine games. The overall numbers this year in Vegas are alarming (.267/.329/.380), but he’s been better lately hitting .297/.356/.430 since July 1. Have to remember that he started this season learning a new position in second base.

The big question with Cecchini is his defense. He’s actually played a solid second base this year and has even looked better at shortstop.

My main point, Cecchini still has the upside of a major league regular at shortstop in my opinion while Reynolds is a utility guy at best, so play Cecchini everyday down the stretch at second base to see what you have.