Over 292 games during his minor league career, Kevin Plawecki has a .803 OPS with 26 home runs and 72 doubles. Detractors might point out that he played in Las Vegas, one of the most hitter-friendly parks in the Pacific Coast League. While he spent a total of 52 games in Vegas to end last season and begin this one, he only hit four of his total home runs in Sin City. Overall his offensive numbers dipped while there.
Those offensive struggles carried over from his last promotion at the end of 2014 into the being of this year. He was hitting just .216 over his first nine games in Triple-A before his call up to the big club. Over his first 100 PAs with New York he was hitting a paltry .213/.250/.309 with a meager .261 BABIP to boot. Had Travis d’Arnaud been consistently healthy, there is little doubt that Plawecki would have been refining his craft in the desert through most of 2015. But that’s not the way things worked out. d’Arnaud did get hurt, often, and it has fallen upon Plawecki to try and pick up the slack. He failed to do so early, even dealing with a severe flu and dizzy spells, which sounds like an excuse, until you try hitting a 95 mph when you can’t focus your eyes on a target.
Now things are changing for the 24-year-old rookie. Since June 1st Plawecki’s batting line looks a bit healthier at .269/.322/.333. His ISO is still a troubling .064, but Plawecki was never expected to be a power hitting catcher like d’Arnaud. Instead, the Mets front office expected him to provide doubles and good defense and hold down the fort until the starting backstop returned from the disabled list. But not only has Plawecki been playing well behind the plate, with only one throwing error and one passed ball in 437 innings, but he’s starting to drive the ball better. He’s not swinging for strikes as much, and he’s making overall more contact than prior to June.
Perhaps most importantly of all are the improvements in Plawecki’s K% and BB%. Until June 1st, he was walking just 4.0% and striking out 24%. Those numbers are now 5.7% and 17% respectively. That’s good, but still not quite in line with his minor league career averages of just under 8% and 12%. So as much as Plawecki has already improved, he still has room to blossom and become a legitimate starting catcher in this league, as long as he can match past levels of success.
There are a few reasons why that might not happen with the Mets. First, d’Arnaud stands in the way. Even though he’s only played 19 games this season, it is fully expected for him to retain his starting role as soon as he is physically able. Plawecki might spell d’Arnaud more to keep the starter fresh and avoid further injury, but it will likely not be a 50/50 type of platoon.
Second, Plawecki is at the back end of one of the worst lineups in the majors. The Mets are collapsing quickly with the worst average in all of baseball and the second worst slugging percentage. To ask a rookie backstop to come in a provide heart-of-the-order production like d’Arnaud has done, is simply unrealistic. But he has proven he can play against major league talent, and that’s impressive for a first go around. Plawecki’s batting line is better, but if it’s power the Mets want, they can get that from the newly recalled Anthony Recker.
Third, he could get traded. The Mets don’t have much in the way of offensive prospects that they are willing to part with. They do still have young controllable arms they can move, though. Adding Plawecki’s name would be a fine offering to make if the Mets wanted to go get someone of legitimate impact. He might not bring the Mets Justin Upton, but he could certainly add value to any potential deal. That’s not going to happen though, so at least we can breath easy knowing that Plawecki and his fine set of skills aren’t going anywhere. Just like the Mets appear to be.
Ultimately when d’Arnaud does comes back, Plawecki will see less time. He will probably continue to start two to possibly three games a week with the Mets, or maybe go back down to Triple-A and hone his skills on an everyday basis. He has proven he can be an effective defensive backstop. He has worked well with an All-Star staff of young and veteran pitchers. And he’s improved his offensive numbers despite the lack of any lineup assistance. Either as a backup, as an everyday Triple-A guy, or as the backstop on another team, Plawecki should continue to improve into a solid starting catcher in 2015.
Development takes time and we need to be patient with Plawecki.
We fear that Travis D’ has never had a full season of professional ball, in spite of all his talents.
Plawecki needs to stay put and we need to be patient with him.
I am also interested in giving Conforto a chance up here.
I think that Matt Harvey must be beyond frustrated with Mets management and I go as far as to wonder if his agent is whispering in his ear that Sandy Alderson, in order to save owners money, is making certain that Harvey does not have regular rotation work, which he craves. His body language fumed with anger last night. When I saw him hit 99mph in the first inning, I said, “this is not good. He is regular at 97 tops and has had too much rest.”
Patrick, good point on Plawecki. I apologize for frustrating drift off topic. When I saw the line up, it felt like sabotage.
Sabotage. Interesting word. I had a similar experience the other day, watching Syndergaard go against the Cardinals. The word I thought: immoral.
I know, that’s ridiculous. This is baseball. But it felt so wrong, so negligent, so . . . immoral . . . almost . . . to put this young man out there, pat him on the back, and say, “Good luck.”
When we consider the historic disparity between offense and defense, I can think of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens . . . and the Mets of the 70s.
It took Travis a trip to the minors and back before he had that strong 2014 second half. It is now expected that Travis will build upon that second half that he is only 19 games removed from. The fact that Travis may regress because he has missed 1/2 the year is a possibility.
Plawecki is not as good as TDA, and his ceiling is below TDA’s production, but he should eventually be a better than average major league catcher. I think he should remain on the roster when TDA comes back. He offers more than Recker or Mondell and in a playoff race the Mets should be using their best players. Plawecki may eventually get traded but not for a “rental player ” under any circumstances. Plawecki is a good player with solid defensive skills with eventual gap to gap contact hitting and 10+ HR power. He is the best offensive player I have seen pass through Savannah in the last four years. I have always been on his bandwagon.
Plawecki will have a nice career
Things will definitely go better for Plawecki when dArnaud is back because then he won’t feel all the pressure of being an everyday catcher but a backup instead