If you missed it on Monday, top prospect Travis d’Arnaud was cleared to begin game action again as he works his way back from a metatarsal fracture in his left foot. He did indeed take the field, alongside Lucas Duda, with the GCL team today and started at catcher, which is great news. Alderson himself said that d’Arnaud will “spend a minimal amount of time there and move on.”
In any case, the GCL Mets played their first of two games today — and as previously mentioned, d’Arnaud was behind the plate. He went 1-for-3 with a run scored and was charged with a passed ball behind the plate. All a part of shaking of the rust, I assume. He singled in the bottom of the first in his first AB back and scored on an Ivan Wilson bases loaded walk. He popped out in the bottom of the second in his second at-bat, and flew out to right field in the bottom of the fifth. Meanwhile, Lucas Duda went 0-for-2 with a walk and run scored.
The next logical step for d’Arnaud would be his return to Triple-A, where he has only 49 plate appearances this season, before hopefully tasting the big leagues this September. In an interview with reporters, Alderson stated that he would love to have d’Arnaud get a taste of the big leagues before the season expired.
One small step for d’Arnaud, one large step for the future of our organization…
