For the 1st part of our series we'll take a look at the catching corp and determine whether or not we should expect them to improve or not.
(***Note this takes into account the team as it is today. Steamer Projections are extrapolated out to 162 games for the starter only.)
(***Note this takes into account the team as it is today. Steamer Projections are extrapolated out to 162 games for the starter only.)
2013
Stats: .219 AVG/.288 OBP/.366 SLG, 22 HR, 84 RBI, 1 SB, 21 2B, 0 3B, 51 BB, 160 K
(24th in MLB OPS)
The Mets entered the season with their catching led by John Buck with Anthony Recker as the back-up. This was the suppose to be the duo that would lead us to Travis d'Arnaud's debut in June, however, tragedy struck when d'Arnaud broke his foot only 3 weeks into the season. This led to increased playing time for Buck who surprisingly hit .249 with 9 HRs and 25 RBIs in the first month of the season. Buck quickly regressed in the months after though hitting .212 in May and .167 in June. Anthony Recker was not much help either posting a sub .200 AVG in April, June, and July.
d'Arnaud eventually arrived in mid August which led to Buck being traded with Marlon Byrd to the Pittburgh Pirates. While d'Arnaud was highly lauded for his pitch framing work behind the dish, his hitting was unfortunately not up to par. His .202 AVG with only 3 extra base hits was not indicative of what we saw in his time in the minors leagues.
2014
Starter: Travis d'Arnaud
Steamer Projections: .254 AVG/.320 OBP/.419 SLG, 19 HR, 75 RBI, 4 SB, 55 BB, 125 K
Steamer projections have d'Arnaud improving based on a normalization of his BABIP (batting average on balls in play) and a off-season of work with the major league coaching staff and pitching corp. In terms of batting average, on base %, BB and K rates, d'Arnaud is expected to be a vast improvement over the duo that manned the tools of ignorance over the course of last season.
Verdict: Massive Improvement
Mack - Certain assumptions have to be made here and we can 't keep projecting d'Arnaud being on the disabled list. It's not like his injuries were genetic. The boy just couldn't get away from being hit by a ball.
That being said, my guess is that he will have a banner year especially since Curtis Granderson and Chris Young has taken the pressure off him to produce big time slugging numbers. d'Arnaud is going to be pitched to and balls will fall in the gap and go over the wall.
The actual #2 catcher (Juan Centeno) will play every day in Las Vegas and keep his batteries fresh in his I-Phone. No, this is a vast improvement and wait until Kevin Plawecki shows up in Las Vegas sometime after the all-star break and everyone starts talking about him.
The Mets may not be the last team d-Arnaud plays for, as soon as the trading season begins.
Mack - Certain assumptions have to be made here and we can 't keep projecting d'Arnaud being on the disabled list. It's not like his injuries were genetic. The boy just couldn't get away from being hit by a ball.
That being said, my guess is that he will have a banner year especially since Curtis Granderson and Chris Young has taken the pressure off him to produce big time slugging numbers. d'Arnaud is going to be pitched to and balls will fall in the gap and go over the wall.
The actual #2 catcher (Juan Centeno) will play every day in Las Vegas and keep his batteries fresh in his I-Phone. No, this is a vast improvement and wait until Kevin Plawecki shows up in Las Vegas sometime after the all-star break and everyone starts talking about him.
The Mets may not be the last team d-Arnaud plays for, as soon as the trading season begins.
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