Mets News: Travis d’Arnaud Catches First Game In Rehab
New York Mets news has been positive for injured catcher Travis d’Arnaud, as he has progressed to catching after only being the DH in his rehab stint.
Recent New York Mets news is actually positive for once. The Mets have been hit hard by injuries in recent weeks, as they have multiple starters out of the lineup. But, the news regarding Travis d’Arnaud is starting to pick up.
d’Arnaud has been sidelined since April 25th because of soreness in his throwing shoulder. d’Arnaud hadn’t had any pain previous to that, but was struggling mightily against the Cincinnati Reds as they stole five bases against him. He was removed early from the game, and it was later revealed that he was dealing with strained rotator cuff.
The Mets and d’Arnaud both thought that it would be a quick recovery, but here we are six weeks later and he is still rehabbing. d’Arnaud has battled a number of injuries throughout his career, as he appeared in only 68 games last season and 108 in 2014.
d’Arnaud began his rehab stint last weekend, but was playing only as the designated hitter as the Mets wanted him to ease his way back into the lineup. He has shown no signs of regression, and progressed to catching this weekend.
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d’Arnaud was able to make it through seven innings on Saturday as the catcher for Single-A Port St. Lucie. While it was encouraging to see d’Arnaud behind the plate, his performance was not highly regarded by scouts watching. Two bases were stolen on d’Arnaud, as one scout described his throws as below average from behind the plate.
Defense has never been a strong point for d’Arnaud, as other teams have picked on him at times running the bases. It was a big reason the Kansas City Royals were so successful against the Mets in the World Series last season, and something teams still did this season.
His bat is what had him regarded as such a high prospect, but even that has been lacking this season. d’Arnaud went on the disabled list with a slash line of .196/.288/.261 in 46 at-bats before landing on the DL. He had zero home runs and only one RBI as well.
But, he will probably be reinserted to the starting lineup once he returns to the major league club because no one took advantage of the playing time with d’Arnaud sidelined. Kevin Plawecki still can’t hit consistently enough at the major league level, while Rene Rivera showed why he is a career backup. One positive to come from that duo was that Rivera seems to have played a part in getting Matt Harvey back on track after his horrific start to the season.
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d’Arnaud still has about two weeks remaining in his rehab, as the latest that he can be on assignment is June 24th. At that point he will be called back up, but if his struggles continue, could we see the Mets make a move at the catcher position? If they do not like the progress being made, maybe the Mets could try again to make a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers and pry Jonathan Lucroy away from them.