As you all know by now, catcher Travis d’Arnaud fractured the metacarpal of the pinkie finger on his right hand on Sunday and will wear a splint for three weeks.
However Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told the New York Post that three weeks was a best case scenario and he could be out for a longer stretch.
“There’s no guarantee that he’s going to be fully cleared in three weeks, but it’s a good prognosis. Probably the best we could’ve hoped for under the circumstances.”
“Travis has been swinging the bat very well and his defense has vastly improved since last season. At the same time, we have to keep going.”
Alderson added that he doesn’t expect the team to tank because of his loss and that of Jerry Blevins. “No, that’s not going to happen. This team has a lot of determination, a lot of cohesiveness,” Alderson said.
In another Post article Howie Kussoy writes that though d’Arnaud likely will be out at least one month, many scouts believe Kevin Plawecki can immediately contribute, perhaps even pushing the team’s talented rotation to even greater heights.
“Plawecki is extremely talented, and I think he could be even better than d’Arnaud,” an NL scout said.
“He’s not as ready right now, but with the right nurturing he is going to be really, really good. Without a doubt, he’s a frontline catcher.”
Another scout said: “I think he’s going to be fine. He’s always done the job. He’ll hit enough for a catcher. He makes contact. He may be just a bit of an upgrade defensively over d’Arnaud. Guys like to pitch to him.”
“I don’t know if you can quantify this, but he has the ‘it’ factor,” a former teammate said. “We rode his bat through the state tournament. He’s got a flair for the dramatic. He’s a guy you want up in big situations.
And a guy you want in the locker room.”
Sandy Alderson has been a big believer in Plawecki sine drafting him with one of the compensation picks the team received for losing Jose Reyes.
“It’s enough time for him to make a contribution to us, and we all think Kevin is going to be a big leader,” Alderson said of Plawecki, who hit .309 in the minors last year and was hitting .216 with six RBIs in nine games this season.
“We didn’t expect that would be this early in the season. He’s going to be a major league player down the road, regardless of what he does over the next month or so.”
It always stinks when you lose a solid young player who is such an integral part of the team, especially a catcher whose responsibilities are greater than any other player on the team. Ron Darling once said, the catcher is like the quarterback of the team, and I agree with that. So losing d’Arnaud for such a long stretch is a big downer for me.
But it’s during times like this that opportunity knocks for a young prospect waiting in the wings and tonight Kevin Plawecki will get his chance to shine. He will have a month at least to show everyone why the organization and many scouts are so excited about him. This is his time now. Let’s Go Mets.
