Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports is reporting that Travis d’Arnaud will remain with the Mets when John Buck returns from his paternity leave on Tuesday.
They key piece from the R.A. Dickey trade last offseason, collected two more walks today and is 0-4 in in his eight plate appearances, but none of that matters as the Mets have seen enough to decide that the future is now for their new starting catcher.
D’Arnaud was batting .304/.487/.554 in 78 at-bats for Triple-A Las Vegas this season before his promotion on Saturday, and despite some jitters he is happy to be here. “I am just trying to take it day by day and trying to have as much fun as I can,” d’Arnaud said.
Describing his debut on Saturday with his parents on hand to watch, the 24-year old catcher said he was awestruck. “It was one of those feelings everyone dreams they can have,” d’Arnaud said. “I can’t even describe it.”
The young backstop has been spending time off the field working with and getting to know his pitchers, while also working closely with pitching coach Dan Warthen and catching coach Bob Geren.
Matt Harvey spoke about throwing to his new battery mate after the game.
“I got to work with him in spring training, so it wasn’t like a completely new person,” said Harvey. “We were not quite on the same page… but I knew that going in… overall I thought he did a great job.”
This is the right move for the Mets and the experience will serve D’Arnaud well when he arrives to camp in the Spring.
And while it may mean a demotion to Las Vegas for Anthony Recker, he’ll be back in two weeks when roster’s expand. The biggest impact will be on Buck, who now eases into a backup role after starting 99 games for the Mets. But he must have known this day coming long ago. He’s a seasoned vet and knows it’s just baseball. Buck won’t be back next season, but Recker could return to resume a backup role again in 2014.
But this is all about the future… With D’Arnaud and Wilmer Flores now both with the team and playing regularly, we get to see both of our top hitting prospects begin what we hope will be long and successful careers with the Mets. It’s almost reminiscent of when David Wright and Jose Reyes both began their major league careers and came into their own together. And just as it was back then, it’s all so very exciting.
Thoughts From Satish R.
This is the right decision. What would it have mattered to send him down for a couple days before September anyway? Keep him with the MLB team and let him grab some at-bats. He’s looked a little shaky behind the plate defensively so far, but that’s ok — he’s a little rusty. Keeping him up will afford him an extra game with Harvey and/or Wheeler — which is always good. If he’s going to be the catcher of the future, the more time he spends up with us now — the better.