The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Travis d’Arnaud takes first step, but future with Mets remains to be seen
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It’s not every day when a team’s nearly entire front office turns out on a back field at 10 a.m. to watch a potential third-string catcher play in a “B” spring training game.
But Travis d’Arnaud is not your ordinary potential third-string catcher. He’s the Mets’ former No. 1 and, the team believes, still young enough and talented enough to be either a solid contributor or a very attractive trade piece once he recovers from last year’s Tommy John surgery.
So there was owner Fred Wilpon and general manager Brodie Van Wagenen and other Mets executives sitting in the bleachers behind home plate on Thursday morning as d’Arnaud made his first appearance at catcher since last April 8.
The social-media savvy Van Wagenen even chronicled the first pitch thrown by left-hander Hector Santiago with a photo on Twitter and a post that read: “Big moment for Travis! He catches his first pitch back from rehab in our early game today against Washington.”
D’Arnaud ended up catching three innings. He didn’t make any throws other than one at the start of each half-inning to second base and the ones back to Santiago. There were no plays at the plate.
But d’Arnaud had a ball.
“It felt good,” he said. “Just felt good to finally be back out there, to work with pitchers again. All the old one-liners are coming back in my head about how to call a game and stuff. Hector definitely made it easy for me. It was a lot of fun. I’m so glad to be back out there.”
D’Arnaud also had a pair of singles — one to right and one to left. The two-hour game also featured Mets major-leaguers such as Brandon Nimmo, Dominic Smith and Juan Lagares and drew a nice crowd of fans before the 1 p.m. regular game between the Mets and Nationals.
When d’Arnaud’s three innings were over, his work wasn’t. He walked to an adjacent field with catching instructor Glenn Sherlock and made three more throws from behind the plate — one to each base, starting with third. He then caught Jeurys Familia and Justin Wilson in the bullpen before each reliever entered the game.
Eventually, the Mets hope d’Arnaud will be able to make unlimited throws in regular-season games. Van Wagenen, in one of his first decisions as general manager, decided to tender a contract to d’Arnaud rather than allow him to become a free agent before the Nov. 30 deadline.
That was the same day the Mets let Wilmer Flores go to save money. D’Arnaud, who was also arbitration eligible, eventually agreed to a nonguaranteed $3.5 million contract. That was before the Mets signed Wilson Ramos to a two-year, $19 million deal to be their No. 1 catcher and also resigned Devin Mesoraco to a minorleague deal. Mesoraco has the distinction of being Jacob deGrom’s favorite catcher, which could give him a leg up on a roster spot.
The Mets can still release d’Arnaud at various points during spring training to save most of his salary, but there is no indication they are planning to do so.
Van Wagenen has talked about using d’Arnaud as a utility player even though the now 30-year-old’s only experience at a position other than catcher is 31⁄3 innings at second base and 52⁄3 innings at third base, both in 2017.
But good catching is in short supply in the majors and d’Arnaud could fetch a return from another team if he proves to be healthy. The Royals, for example, just lost All-Star catcher Salvador Perez to Tommy John surgery.
D’Arnaud’s Mets future remains to be seen, even after Thursday’s important and well-attended first step.
“It feels really good to have a clear mind,” d’Arnaud said. “Just catch it and get it down there instead of worrying about all these mechanical things or whatever was going on in my head last year or years prior.”