Devin Mesoraco made himself nice and cozy in his new home ballpark last night during his Citi Field debut.
He reached base in all five of his plate appearances as he went 2-2 with a home run (third on the season), two RBI, three walks, and four runs against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The catcher came into the game with only one hit (a solo home run against the Philadelphia Phillies) in his first 13 at-bats with the Mets since being acquired last Monday.
He managed to raise his season average to .214 and his average with the Mets to .200 after his offensive showing on Tuesday night.
Mickey Callaway believes Mesoraco has brought a presence on the offensive side out of the catcher position that had previously been lacking.
“I think that he is a threat at the plate, obviously. You know if you make a bad pitch, he’s going to hit the ball hard. He’s done that a few times, he did a good job taking his walks tonight. I think he’s probably energized coming over here.”
However, that isn’t the only part of his game that has impressed Callaway thus far, as he really has been impressed with Mesoraco’s defensive prowess as well.
“The thing I’ve noticed most is that he’s excellent behind the plate. Noah didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled through it and I thought Devin really helped him with that. I think that he calls the game the right way. If Noah’s falling behind, he knows the pitch to go to that’s going to get some weak contact. His energy behind there and his emphasis on where he wants the ball always helps.”
While this was only his fifth game with the team and expectations from the catcher need to be tempered, Mesoraco appears to be bringing something to the table on both sides of the ball that the team did not have internally.
Kevin Plawecki is expected to return within the next couple of weeks, and if Mesoraco continues to produce, the Mets could restore stability at the catching position, which they lost when both Plawecki and Travis d’Arnaud went down with injuries in April.
