New York Mets: Kevin Plawecki will need to thrive with Travis d’Arnaud out

By Nick Ziegler | Apr 20, 2015

The New York Mets may have won their eighth straight game Sunday against the Miami Marlins, but it did come at a very high cost.

Mets’ catcher Travis d’Arnaud was hit by a pitch on his right hand in the seventh inning of Sunday’s game. With no protection other than a batting glove, getting hit on the hand is always a painful thing, and also runs the risk of breaking or fracturing some of the tiny bones in it. X-Rays for d’Arnaud would not come back good for him and the Mets, as it was discovered that he has a fractured hand.

D’Arnaud was playing very well for the Mets in the early part of the season, as after a great second half of last season, d’Arnaud was following that up with a strong start in 2015. So far this season, d’Arnaud was hitting .317 with two homeruns, 10 RBI, one double, and one triple. D’Arnaud got off to a slow start last season with the Mets, but in the second half of the season, he showed why he was so highly regarded as a prospect. The loss of a starting catcher is never a good thing for a team, but the Mets do have another young talented catcher waiting in the wings.

More from New York Mets

Kevin Plawecki has been called up from the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate to become the Mets’ new everyday starting catcher until d’Arnaud is back. Plawecki really impressed a lot of people in Spring Training, as he was likely to be called up sometime this season, but the injury to d’Arnaud speeded the process up. In Spring Training this season, Plawecki batted .250 with one homerun, and 5 RBI.

Last season in Binghamton and Las Vegas, Plawecki batted .309 with 11 homeruns and 64 RBI in 101 games. Plawecki hasn’t hit as well in the early part of the season, as so far he is batting just .216.

The Mets have been very careful to not trade away their young players, and with a lot of injuries, those young players will be asked to contribute in the majors. “You’re not going to find a guy like that on the market,” general manager Sandy Alderson said of Plawecki. “I got all the confidence in the world Kevin will do a nice job for us. We’re in a fortunate position to have someone of his caliber available to us.”

With David Wright on the disabled list with a strained hamstring already, Plawecki will need to hit for the Mets, as two of their best right-handed bats are on the DL.

“He’s a big league player from what I’ve seen in the short time I played with him,” said Eric Campbell, Plawecki’s former teammate. “He’s a grinder. He’ll give you tough at-bats and he’s also got the ability to drive the ball to all fields. His offense I don’t think is that different from Travis. He’s a guy that can do damage”.

Plawecki will hopefully bust out of the little slump he’s been in to start the season when he heads to the majors, because the Mets will really need him. Anthony Recker is a very capable backup catcher, but if he needs to play more, the Mets’ offense will take a hit.

There is a great opportunity in front of Plawecki, and now the question is can he thrive in the majors?

Next: Where are the Mets in the MLB Power Rankings?

More from Empire Writes Back

Home/New York Mets