Update: 4:25 PM
Andy Martino of the Daily News reported that the Mets didn’t allocate funds for a veteran catcher to help mentor Travis d’Arnaud, hence leaving them in the current situation they’re in at backstop.
“We allocated our spending to other areas,” a source told Martino.
1:43 PM
As many of you know, the Mets opted to demote former top prospect Travis d’Arnaud down to Triple-A Las Vegas just a couple of days ago. In his time with the Mets, d’Arnaud never seemed to get comfortable at the plate and it showed in his stat line.
In 257 plate appearances between 2013 and this season the 25-year old backstop slashed just .189/.277/.269 with just 10 extra-base hits (4 HR)– good for a -0.2 WAR. And while 257 plate appearances certainly doesn’t make a career, it didn’t take a trained eye to see d’Arnaud was lost. Hopefully a few weeks (or more) in the hitters paradise of Las Vegas will help Travis get back to the player he was on track to be.
However, his demotion brings up another question– how does this affect another of the Mets top prospects, catcher Kevin Plawecki?
Plawecki, who was ranked by Baseball America as the Mets 5th best prospect entering 2014, has only elevated his status in 2014. Through 46 games in Double-A Binghamton the 23-year old has put up a slashline of .337/.382/.525 with six homeruns and 16 doubles. Over his last 23 games alone he’s hit .371 with five longballs.
Which brings me back to my original question: How does d’Arnaud’s demotion affect the former 1st rounder from Purdue?
I guess the answer really isn’t clear, but with d’Arnaud needing at-bats in Vegas there isn’t any room for Plawecki, who seems deserving of the promotion. Couple that with the fact that the Mets don’t have much of a recent track record of skipping players over Triple-A, and that further muddies the water. Time will tell, and I guess having two top catching prospects is a good problem to have, but it’s an interesting topic for debate.
How do you think will affect Plawecki in the short and long term? Do you think he’s jumped d’Arnaud in the organizational depth chart?
(Photo Credit: Anthony J. Causi)
