New York Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud is working hard this offseason to become the catcher that the Mets hoped he would be.
It has not been a great start to his career for New York Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud. Injuries have certainly affected him early in his career. However, he also hasn’t lived up to expectations when he was on the field.
In addition to struggling at the plate at times, d’Arnaud has been awful at throwing at runners. This offseason, d’Arnuad has been working hard to improve at this area of his game. With a need to improve, d’Arnaud has worked closely with Glenn Sherlock.
“He was a huge help,’’ d’Arnaud said Tuesday at Tradition Field to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post. “For the team to bring him in shows they have my back and they want me to get better. So it’s cool that he is here.’’
While a lot of coaching can be done on the field, Sherlock and d’Arnaud also put in a lot of work in the video room.
“It was great, a ton of work,’’ d’Arnaud said to Kernan. “Sometimes I rush throwing. He showed me a lot of videos where he said I was really, really quick, but in my mind it looked like I was slow. A lot of it is just slow it down and make a clean throw. We hit it off right from the get-go. We started cracking jokes and haven’t stopped since.’’
In addition to getting help from Sherlock, d’Arnaud has also been working with hitting coach Kevin Long. With a career .245 batting average, there is plenty of room to improve in that area as well.
“This will be my first time using it to the full potential that I should have been before,’’ d’Arnaud said to Kernan. “As long as I stay consistent with all this stuff that me, Kevin and Sherlock Holmes worked on in the offseason.”
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d’Arnaud will be the starting catcher for the Mets this season once again. Staying healthy has certainly been an issue for him. But at 28-years-old, he might be in a make or break year in his career. He has been working hard this offseason. Now, we will have to see if that hard work pays off.