This year, the Mets plan to enter the season with a platoon at the catcher position of Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki.
In an article written by Steven Marcus of Newsday, highlights d’Arnaud and the nice praise he has received from GM Sandy Alderson. In an email, Alderson had this to say on the 28-year old:
“I couldn’t be happier with Travis’ progress.” Last year he had a career high in home runs, RBIs, and games played. Glenn Sherlock has helped him tremendously with his footwork behind the plate. I look for him to continue to make progress in all these areas again in 2018.’’
In 112 games last season, d’Arnaud hit .244/.293/.443 with 16 home runs and 57 RBIs that gave him a 91 wRC+ and .735 OPS.
The reason for optimism, though, largely stems from his production in September. He hit .297/.343/.656 with six home runs and 19 RBIs to give him a .999 OPS for the month.
On the defensive side, he finished with an even zero defensive runs saved, which was his first time not finishing with a negative number in that category in his MLB career. This, combined with his offensive production, gave him a 1.2 WAR on the season.
d’Arnaud is also feeling confident about this upcoming season and believes he will be able to avoid living up to his reputation of being injury prone. He had this to say on the matter:
“I think the injuries that have happened to me have all been freak injuries. Last year I threw a ball, I hit my hand on the end of a bat. When does that happen? As far as that label of injury-prone goes, it’s just other people’s opinion. I can’t really concentrate on that. I know what my opinion is about myself, and that is what’s most important to me.’’
The Mets are rumored to be interested in signing Jonathan Lucroy, who the Mets tried to trade d’Arnaud for in 2016 when Lucroy was still with the Milwaukie Brewers.
However, it appears the Mets are less likely to acquire a catcher this off-season and they believe that d’Arnaud and Plawecki will be able to form a solid catching tandem in 2018.
