Swing shift is giving d’Arnaud a healthy cut at plate so far
JUPITER, Fla. — Normally you barely notice batting averages in spring training, especially in early March. But in Travis d’Arnaud’s case, you can’t help it. He made such a radical change in his swing during the offseason, finally freeing himself from wrapping his bat around his head, that anything d’Arnaud did this spring was going to be noteworthy.
The fact that he’s hitting .450 (9-for-20) after seven games with two home runs, including one here on Monday, has to make the Mets a bit giddy, considering they gambled in a big way by sticking with him as their No. 1 catcher for 2017, counting on a bounce-back season.
“It’s really good to see because he’s worked so hard to fix his swing,’’ Terry Collins said. “And he hasn’t had to throw a lot, but he threw very, very well the other day. So hopefully he’s on the right track.”
The Mets have been waiting to cash in on d’Arnaud’s potential since they targeted him from the Blue Jays in the R.A. Dickey trade five years ago. He has been often derailed by injuries and then, after a strong finish in 2015, he hit the skids in 2016, as his OPS fell from .825 to .629 while his percentage of throwing out base-stealers
went from 33 to 22.
That led to an offseason of baseball rehabilitation, if you will, for both his offense and defense. Perhaps most significantly, d’Arnaud went to Arizona for a few days to work on revamping his swing, to the point where it looks dramatically different from last year — much shorter and quicker to the ball.
On Monday he didn’t downplay the difference it has made for him so far, mainly because he doesn’t have to start his swing as early as he did last year.
“I’m able to see the ball longer and not have to cheat to get to certain pitches,’’ d’Arnaud said. “I’ve shortened the swing up so it’s more direct and I don’t have to over-commit too soon.”
As a result, d’Arnaud has been hitting just about everything hard so far. In addition to his laser of a home run to left Monday against the Marlins, he hit a one-hop scorcher to third that was turned into an out. The early results matter most because everyone was waiting to see if d’Arnaud would revert back to his old habits under the pressure of in-game at-bats. To that end he said everyone from coaches to teammates are constantly reminding to stick with his routine.
“Keeping me accountable,’’ was the way he put it.
Of course, regular season at-bats will be the ultimate test, but d’Arnaud sounds confident, saying it’s beginning to come natural to him.
“I keep doing the same routine from when I get in the on-deck circle until I get in the batter’s box,’’ he said. “From there I don’t think.’’
Hitting coach Kevin Long is impressed because he said in the past d’Arnaud would tinker constantly with his set-up and approach, but so far has been disciplined in repeating his new swing.
“His work and taking it to the game has been flawless, honestly, to this point,’’ Long said. “We’ll try to keep him there, see how long he can go with it. If he does that, I expect to see a lot more of this.’’
The Mets have always thought d’Arnaud could be one of the best-hitting catchers in the game, and they were perplexed that he got himself into such a funk last year, wrapping his bat farther and farther around his head.
However, d’Arnaud said that style had been good to him in previous years, though it wasn’t quite as extreme. In any case, he tried unsuccessfully to make changes during the season, but didn’t commit to change as he did with his offseason work.
“We set out for him to do one thing, that’s to repeat his swing,’’ said Long. “He’s done exactly that and he’s getting rewarded for it.
“He’s not jumpy with his feet. He’s getting his feet in good position and his hands are lightning quick. It’s paying big dividends right now.’’
Starting in the offseason, and now with early-morning workouts, d’Arnaud also committed to improving his throwing, as well as his game-calling, with new catching coach, Glenn Sherlock, and Mets’ people say they’re seeing results there as well.
Collins admitted it’s too early in spring training to get too excited about all of this, but don’t think for a minute he’s not dreaming about what a re-born d’Arnaud could do for the Mets’ chances this season. “He’s a run-producer who can hit for power,’’ the manager said. “If you add another run-producer down in the order a little bit, I’m telling you, that lineup is going to be pretty deep.”
Early March is a long, long way from the grind of the season, but just maybe Mets will wind up being right for showing faith in their catcher.