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Travis d’Arnaud to Remain in Big Leagues, Anthony Recker Optioned to AAA

By Former Writers

August 19, 2013 No comments

travis-darnuad

Update, 5:40pm:

Well, the Mets made an important roster decision before jumping on their flight back to New York:

The future is here to stay, folks! D’Arnaud hasn’t torn it up at the plate in his three games since being promoted, but his value moving forward is to stay in the big leagues and get most of the playing time. Terry Collins told reporters after their 6-1 victory against the Twins that John Buck will get some playing time, but it sounds like Travis is the man.

Congratulations, Travis!! We’re looking forward to your home debut tomorrow night at Citi Field.

Original Article, 3:30pm:

In a daily feature over at SB Nation’s Minor League Ball, John Sickels today selected Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud as his Prospect of the Day. In this feature, Sickels gives some background regarding the prospect of his choice, outlining the journey through their respective minor league systems.

For d’Arnaud, it’s been an interesting and longer than expected journey for the now 24-year-old MLB rookie. He was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the first round (37th overall) of the 2007 MLB draft. He was in the Philly system for three years before they decided to trade him to Toronto in exchange for ace pitcher, Roy Halladay. That was the first time he would get traded for a Cy Young Award winner, as the Blue Jays dealt him this past winter to New York to acquire R.A. Dickey.

Sickels details that while a lot of d’Arnaud’s attractive tools lie with his bat and power potential, he is the complete package behind the plate, as well. Here’s a small piece of what he said about the top catching prospect in the major leagues this season:

He’s considered a strong defensive catcher, combining athleticism, mobility, good footwork, leadership skills, and a decent arm into a complete package. He had trouble throwing out runners earlier in his career, but this has improved steadily: he threw out 19% in 2008, 23% in 2009, 30% in 2010, 27% in 2011, 30% in 2012, but has caught 50% this year. Yes, the sample is small but scouting reports back up the improvement.

He had some issues this weekend with passed balls and base stealers, but did have the opportunity to show off his throwing arm on a few occasions. Here is the final analysis from Sickels at the end of his article:

I don’t see him as a .300 hitter at the major league level, but he should be good for a solid .250-.270 range, with an adequate OBP and better-than-average power. He could exceed those projections in his peak seasons.

Back in February, I wrote a Prospect Smackdown article comparing d’Arnaud with Mike Zunino of the Seattle Mariners, who is d’Arnaud’s primary competition as the top catching prospect in baseball. I concluded that I preferred Zunino very slightly because he was two years younger. Zunino has had his own set of problems this year. Catchers get hurt a lot and they often don’t have linear development curves.

Although I don’t see him in the Buster Posey or Joe Mauer class of superstar catcher, d’Arnaud produces quality play on both sides of the ball. If he can avoid getting hurt too often, d’Arnaud will be a fixture in the Mets lineup for years to come.

I agree with his projection for d’Arnaud in the coming years. While he probably won’t be putting up numbers like Mike Piazza, he should be a solid piece of the Met lineup moving forward. I would be very happy if Travis hit somewhere between .260 and .280, with 15-20 home runs, and 70-80 RBIs.

However, there are two things that must fall into place for this to happen.

One, d’Arnaud has to stay healthy. We’re all very aware of his injury history, and the biggest question mark is whether or not he’ll be able to stay on the field. I’m crossing my fingers he’ll be able to.

Second, Sandy Alderson needs to acquire a legit power bat to put in the middle of the order. We saw how Ike Davis responded to being relied upon as the major source of power in this year’s lineup in Flushing. Whether he’s back next year or not, the Mets need to find someone to put in the cleanup spot to take the pressure off him, d’Arnaud, and David Wright to produce power numbers that are seemingly beyond their ability.

We’ll see what happens over the winter. For now, I’m looking forward to seeing Travis get some very helpful experience in the major leagues the rest of this season, helping him get prepared to be the starting catcher for the New York Mets in 2014 and beyond.