After struggling in the postseason, there are growing concerns among fans about Travis d’Arnaud. He batted under .200 in 14 playoff games, and he also performed poorly on defense. His arm looked incredibly weak in the World Series, which gave the speedy Royals a huge advantage on the base paths.
However, the playoffs shouldn’t overshadow all the strides he made during the regular season.
During 239 at bats, he provided excellent production from the catching position with a .268 average and 12 homeruns. His .820 OPS ranked third in the majors among catchers with at least 200 plate appearances, and his .485 slugging percentage also ranked just slightly behind Cubs’ rookie sensation Kyle Schwarber for the top spot at his position.
He built off of his strong second half showing in 2014 where he hit .272 with an .805 OPS after being recalled from the minor leagues. These numbers are more significant than his playoff ones as they come in a much larger sample size. There’s also the possibility he was suffering from fatigue at the end of the year because he didn’t have any major issues throwing out runners during the season.
While d’Arnaud clearly has a lot of upside, the Mets have yet to see his true potential due to his injury history. He has been placed on the disabled list every season since joining the Mets, and he was limited to just 68 games this year as he suffered two fluke injuries after a collision at the plate and getting hit by a pitch.
However, the Mets are going to try to keep him fresh this season and hopefully keep him in good shape all year.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to keep him healthy for the full year,” Ricco said. “And whether that means giving him more days off a week, whether that means finding a spot on the field for him to play a couple days a week, there’s different ways you can go about it.” (Marc Craig, Newsday)
d’Arnaud looks poised for a huge season as he enters his third full year in the majors. The 26 year old catcher has the ability to be an excellent hitter at his position and could emerged into one of the team’s biggest threats at the plate if he can stay on the field.
