Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud will begin his rehab assignment tonight for Advanced-A St. Lucie and according to Terry Collins, he could be ready to return from the DL next week.
“I don’t think he’ll catch seven days, but I’d like to get him seven games of worth of at-bats to get him to 20-25 before he’s activated, ” Collins said before last night’s 3-0 loss to the Dodgers at Citi Field.
“It’s been a month, but I certainly think that there’s a legitimate possibility that next week at this time he’s here.”
The St. Lucie Mets play a doubleheader tonight so d’Arnaud should get some at-bats at DH and perhaps catcher for one game.
D’Arnaud, 26, was batting .296 with a .873 OPS in 77 plate appearances this season before he was injured.
July 21
Some rare good news for the Metropolitans broke today as Adam Rubin of ESPN reported that Travis d’Arnaud has taken batting practice the past couple of days and is set to begin playing in rehab games later this week.
D’Arnaud will probably play a couple games in the Gulf Coast or Florida State Leagues before moving to the upper minors and ultimately joining the big-league squad.
The Mets can use all the help on the offensive side of the ball right now that they could get. D’Arnaud is a big-league caliber hitter that has been productive in his limited time this year. Slotting him into the core of this lineup is a step toward getting the offense back on track. Now they just need another bat, maybe two…
