The Shredder has ranked Travis d’Arnaud as the 10th best catcher in the majors in the latest edition of MLB Network’s Top 10 Right Now series.
Ahead of him they have Buster Posey at No. 1 followed by Russell Martin, Jonathan Lucroy, Francisco Cervelli, Stephen Vogt, Brian McCann, Yadier Molina, Salvador Perez and Derek Norris.
While I’m glad to see d’Arnaud on the list, I think he probably belongs somewhere around 3rd, 4th or at worst 5th best if this is based on projected 2016 production. Although he missed significant time last season due to a wrist injury he suffered on a play at the plate, he continues to produce at a high rate when he’s on the field.
D’Arnaud, 27, put up very solid offensive numbers in his 268 trips to the plate last season, posting a .268/.340/.485 batting line with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs. Adjusting for park and league factors, that comes out to a 131 wRC+. Of all catchers who had 200 or more plate appearances, that was tied with Kyle Schwarber for second best in baseball.
When healthy, d’Arnaud has shown that he is in the conversation of second-best catcher in baseball behind Buster Posey. In just 67 games last year, he posted a 2.3 fWAR, which would extrapolate out to over 4.0 in a full season. Additionally, he produced a .485 slugging percentage last season, which ranked No. 1 among catchers with 250+ plate appearances.
With the glove, d’Arnaud seemed to struggle a bit at times, mostly with throwing runners out. However, he still threw out a slightly higher percentage of base stealers than Perez at 33 vs 32 percent. That’s not to say he’s better, but to point out that he’s no slouch. And we all know how good he is at pitch framing, among the best in the game.
I’m betting TDA outproduces most of those catchers ranked ahead of him in 2016.
