To say that Travis d’Arnaud has struggled in his debut with the Mets, well, that would be a massive understatement.
After another o-for on Friday night, d’Arnaud is now sporting a pathetic .145/.221/.217 slash line to go with just one home run and three RBI’s (in 69 at-bats). After the Mets traded away John Buck (along with Marlon Byrd) to the Pirates, the franchise committed to giving d’Arnaud the opportunity to play every day and get accustomed to the big leagues. But so far, the sledding has been tough.
As with any struggling player—especially rookies—d’Arnaud is pressing. That is something to which he readily admits to. With the pressure on him to be the catching superstar the Mets expected they got when they traded away R.A. Dickey for him in the offseason, d’Arnaud is having trouble adjusting to the spotlight and those lofty expectations.
However Mets’ batting coach still belies d’Arnaud is close to breaking out.
From MetsBlog via the Daily News:
“He’s trying to do something, to show something and then when he struggles a little bit, what happens is everybody gets in your ear,” Mets hitting coach Dave Hudgens said, according to the Daily News. “He’s got good hands, a pretty good eye at the plate. He hits the ball all over the field. He will minimize the movement and get consistent and you’ll see his rhythm come back.”
From the start, d’Arnaud has had it rough. First, after being traded in the offseason, d’Arnaud was supposed to make his way to Queens within the first two or three months, with Buck playing the role as placeholder and mentor. However, those plans went awry, as d’Arnaud broke his foot in April and that simply derailed his season. With the injury and rehab, d’Arnaud had to wait until mid-August to make his much-anticipated debut.
As it is usual with pessimistic Mets’ fans, some are already claiming d’Arnaud is a bust. While there are growing concerns with d’Arnaud, it’s still too early for that kind of talk. It’s not just his lousy start, but also his propensity for getting hurt that have some suggesting d’Arnaud is not what he is cracked up to be.
d’Arnaud’s struggles most likely stem from a combination of things. When you factor in his foot injury, a delayed ETA and all the hype (after all, he was traded for two Cy Young winners) he had to live up to, d’Arnaud had a lot on his plate. That’s a lot to burden to carry in one year.
In the long run, d’Arnaud should fit in well in the middle of the Mets’ lineup. He just needs time to adjust to the speed of the game and let things come to him. It’s a good thing he is going through these struggles now with the Mets clearly out of it and having nothing to play for, expect player development.
So, while d’Arnaud’s troubles are alarming, I wouldn’t worry about it unless we see the same results to start the 2014 season.
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Is there trouble in Metland between Teflon Terry and Dave Hudgens? After reading the quote in this article read this article:
http://www.newyorkmetsreport.com/2013/09/13/is-mets-terry-collins-sending-the-right-message/
It appears there is a philosophical difference in the organization. Which side is Sandy on?
As for Travis, let him find his way and in 2014 expect average NL catcher production and things will be fine. That will make him better than Buck or Thole. Expectations are high and I believe he will eventually become a better than average catcher offensively. He already does a fine job defensively.
Remember, we also got Syndergaard in the deal and flipped Buck for Black. This is obviously Sandy’s strong point and he deserves a lot of credit.
There is nothing new with a player called up to the majors and struggling. That is precisely why we should have brought him up. He just needs to stay healthy at this point. It’s all part of a player’s learning curve.
Dion’t forget,he missed most of the season with an injury.
He’ll be fine. It’s a huge jump and he’s a very talented player. The players that get to the big leagues and immediately excel are the exception. Heck, even Trout hit .220 in his first taste.
Considering Ike has been given 2 years to discover himself TdA is not a huge sooty IMO. Our desperate need for hitting is covering up the he’s manning a premium defense position and with only 2 abbreviated AAA seasons at very high competition, his situational the plate is unsurprising. He needs to learn the ever changing staff and become a quality receiver and feared steal killer. His bat will mature as he does. Unfortunately it appears he will get little platoon help with an active vet on staff (though I would look into that for next yr…perhaps David Ross or AJ Piersyzinski who I think might be on 1 yr deals???). This only adds to his uphill climb. I think it’s worth taking stock of things in his first 250 PAs after he’s had 500-750. Right now judging his bat is simply far too premature.
Sooty = issue
He’ll be ok..He looks caught in-between with his timing at the plate. He’ll get it going!
The silver lining on Travis has been his uber low BABIP rate (.167). His strikeout rate is not outrageous either(19%) and he’s got a solid 9% walk rate. Regression to the norm!
I agree with the sentiment in the comments here. I’m not worried about d’Arnaud at this point. Missing most of the year THEN making your major league debut, in NY no less, is certainly very challenging.
My concern with TD lies elsewhere. Rarely have I ever seen a catcher so regularly “fooled” by his pitchers offerings and I’ve never seen so many balls get through to the backstop.
Worse, he seems to have an alarming propensity to get hit b/c of his slow hands, by foul tips, bats, etc.
If I were to predict anything is that he’ll suffer another season ending injury at some point next year.
Lets hope his walk-off hit on Sunday gets him going.