Travis d’Arnaud, C
Bats/Throws: R/R
DOB: February 10, 1989 (27 on Opening Day)
Contract: $550,000, Arb Eligible 2017, Free Agent 2020
2015 Recap
Travis d’Arnaud was probably the most underappreciated player on the Mets roster this past season. Although he missed significant time due to another freak injury, he was fantastic when he was on the field.
d’Arnaud put up gaudy offensive numbers in his 268 trips to the plate last year. He slashed.268/.340/.485 with nine home runs. Adjusting for park and league factors, that comes out to a 131 wRC+. Of all catchers who got 200 or more plate appearances, that was tied with Kyle Schwarber for second in baseball.
d’Arnaud proved that if healthy, he is in the conversation of second-best catcher in baseball behind Buster Posey. In just 67 games, d’Arnaud posted a 2.3 fWAR, which would extrapolate out to over 4.0 in a full season.
From the middle of 2014 onward, d’Arnaud has simply been on another level offensively. In 69 games after a brief stint in Triple-A, d’Arnaud slashes .272/.319/.486 with ten home runs. Over the last season’s worth of plate appearances, d’Arnaud has been an elite hitting catcher.
With the glove, d’Arnaud seemed to struggle a bit at times, mostly with throwing runners out. However, that belief was skewed by watching the masterful Salvador Perez in the World Series. However, the truth is d’Arnaud threw out a higher percentage of base stealers than Perez at 33 percent, compared to Perez’s 32 percent. That’s not to say he’s better (perhaps more runners are opting not to steal against Perez), but d’Arnaud is no slouch. And we all know how good he is at pitch framing…
He may not have gotten much of the spotlight, but d’Arnaud had an outstanding 2015.
2016 Projections
Steamer – 343 PAs, .257/.320/.444, 13 HR
Marcel – 376 PAs, .254/.320/.434, 14 HR
Both of these projections have d’Arnaud playing a half season, but only because he’s been hurt a few times over the last couple of seasons.
As with Wright, I’m not going to predict how many games d’Arnaud will play. However, I will say this: I’m still not convinced d’Arnaud is injury prone. I know that sounds crazy considering how much time he has spent on the DL, but none of his injuries have been related or signal that he’s more prone to getting hurt than the average player. He was hit by a pitch and broke his pinkie, which happens all the time when people are hit in the pinkie with a 90 mile per hour pitch. Then he was delayed by an unrelated bone bruise on his wrist, something that happens to catchers. He later hurt his elbow on a crazy slide at home plate. In 2013, he broke his foot. Before that, he partially tore a ligament in his knee while sliding. Unlike Jose Reyes, who was constantly pulling quad and hamstring muscles, none of d’Arnaud’s injuries are related. Has he been frequently hurt? Yes. Are all of his bones, tendons, and muscles throughout his entire body more prone to breaking or tearing? Highly unlikely.
Now, on to the projections. Both Marcel and Steamer, of course, include the first half of 2014, which is why the slugging percentage is so low. Considering it’s been consistently in the .480 range since coming back up from the minors that season, it’s more likely he approaches that in 2016. If he hits for that much power, he should exceed or approach 20 home runs as well.
I think going into 2016 expecting d’Arnaud to put up his insane 2015 line over a full season is a little optimistic. I’d say something around .260/.320/.480 would be a reasonable expectation for our young catcher.
