D’ARN SHAME
TRAVIS’ THROWING TROUBLES HAVEN’T BEEN FIXED YET
PORT ST. LUCIE — In his quest to throw out base runners this spring, the Mets’ starting catcher is still Travis d’ArNope.
A rough spring for d’Arnaud throwing the ball was underscored Friday, when the Astros were successful in all four of their stolen base attempts against Noah Syndergaard and d’Arnaud in the Mets’ 2-0 exhibition loss at First Data Field.
D’Arnaud is 0-for-12 this spring in attempting to throw out base stealers. Included Friday was a bounced throw by d’Arnaud to second base on Derek Fisher’s third steal of the game before Jake Marisnick swiped second on a pitchout.
“I had a couple of good throws today,” d’Arnaud said. “It’s just something that happens in baseball — teams steal against you and you’ve just got to work together to try and get out of the inning if they steal a base.”
Though the Grapefruit League statistics say d’Arnaud is 1-for-13 against base stealers this spring, he was credited for a throwout on a pickoff earlier this month in which he never touched the ball. In reality, he is 0-for-12.
D’Arnaud threw out only 17 of 78 (22 percent) runners attempting to steal against him last year, prompting the organization to hire Glenn Sherlock as catching instructor in the offseason.
Manager Terry Collins said he has seen improvements in d’Arnaud’s throwing, but the results have not followed.
“I certainly like his arm stroke a lot better now than I did last year,” Collins said. “I think he’s made huge improvements in it. I saw the other day he made a real good throw, even the pitch out [on Friday].
“The velocity is there, the arm strength is there, we just have to get him to speed it up. I think he’s right now focused on the mechanics of it all, which I certainly understand and would support. But as we get here in the last week we’ve got to get it sped up a little bit.”
Syndergaard was the easiest pitcher in the major leagues to run against last season, only adding to the challenge d’Arnaud faced Friday. But Collins said he likely will start Rene Rivera behind the plate for Opening Day with Syndergaard pitching, based on the rapport the two established working together last season.
Syndergaard has worked with pitching coach Dan Warthen on tightening up his delivery and said he’s content with the improvements.
“I feel real confident that I can control the runners and still deliver a quality pitch to home plate,” Syndergaard said.
D’Arnaud is hitting .325 in the Grapefruit League, helping squelch any notion he should be displaced as the starting catcher. But even if d’Arnaud rebounds from his sluggish offensive season in 2016, the Mets don’t want to turn too many singles into doubles for the opposition.
“[D’Arnaud] has tried to change the mechanics of his throwing so much in the spring, I think that’s foremost on his mind, making sure the arm is in the right spot, the hand is coming off the ball in the right place,” Collins said.
“If he’s driving in a ton of runs, you will ignore what the throwing is like. If he’s hitting homers and driving in runs, you will ignore that other stuff. If he gets it going offensively, he’s going to play a lot of games.”
D’Arnaud certainly isn’t blind to the importance of improving his results throwing the baseball.
“It’s a game-changer,” he said. “You look at guys like Yadier Molina or Buster Posey who are excellent throwers, and it cuts down the running game. A guy on second base versus a guy on first base is a huge difference.”