The Mets got catcher Travis d’Arnaud from the Toronto Blue Jays in the trade that involved knuckleballer R.A Dickey.
d’Arnaud came up from AAA in mid 2013 where he batted a mere .202. Fans did not expect much from him as a new young catcher. What they did expect was for him to make progress the more he played. He did not show much promise last year either, batting only .242, fans’ concern for a catcher grew higher.
The first six games of 2015 could not have gone better for Travis. On Opening Day, he went 2-4 with an RBI giving the Mets a 3-1 lead. His fourth at-bat was a shot to centerfield with a chance to be a home run, but it hit the wall and earned only his fourth triple of his career. The second game of the series, he went 1-3 with another RBI. In the final game of the series, Travis had a big day going 2-4 driving in 2 more runs. In the total of three games, d’Arnaud’s slash line was .455/.455/.636.
Maybe with Kevin Plawecki lurking down in AAA Las Vegas, d’Arnaud might see this be his last chance to prove to the team that he can be the catcher of the future. Everyone could use a little competition to better their play.
d’Arnaud has played exceptionally well and hopefully can continue it this way for the entire 2015 season.
