There’s no sugarcoating it, Travis d’Arnaud has been awful offensively in the second half slashing only .248/.280/.327 with only one home run. Back-up catcher Rene Rivera was claimed off waivers last week by the Chicago Cubs.
Enter, Kevin Plawecki.
The New York Mets have a gaping hole at the catcher position going into the 2018 season and Plawecki is currently showing signs of improvement on his previous major league experience.
Since being recalled (yes, a very small sample size) Plawecki has gone 4 for 11 with a double, home run and two walks. More than just the stat line is how hard Plawecki is hitting the ball and showing a more conscious effort to hit the ball the other way.
Plawecki isn’t arbitration eligible until 2019 and d’Arnaud will go to arbitration for the second time this offseason. This combined with a weak free agent catcher market (outside of one-year tear from Alex Avila, bounce back from Jonathan Lucroy), Tomas Nido starting next season in Triple-A and it looks like the Mets desperately need Plawecki to emerge as a legitimate major league catching option.
And now is the time to find out with Plawecki with the Mets season is in evaluation mode.
