In case you might have missed it, and chances are you did … Travis d’Arnaud hit two home runs in two straight at-bats against Colorado Springs on Wednesday. This might mean a few things: Maybe d’Arnaud is a Quad A player that can hit in the minors but not in the majors. This could also mean that hitting stats in Las Vegas mean nothing because it’s Las Vegas, and that hitting and pitching stats are skewered in Vegas and in the whole PCL, rendering it impossible to accurately evaluate a player by mere statistics. Further proving that Jeff Wilpon is the root of all ills with the Mets because they wouldn’t even be in Vegas if Jeffy the Golden Sperm hadn’t set a blow torch to every relationship the club has ever had with its Triple A affiliates since his ascension to Chief Operating Office of shit that Jeff Wilpon should never be operating in the first place.
Or it could be a beacon of hope. And I wasn’t prepared to go in this direction until I found Jonathan Lucroy’s take on d’Arnaud (by the incomparable Marc Carig):
At age 24, he had been promoted on his reputation as a hit-first catching prospect. But he quickly fell into a familiar trap. He threw himself into learning the nuances of handling a pitching staff, a catcher’s most important job, even at the detriment of his offense.
For all the hype surrounding his bat, Lucroy hit just .253 in 2010, his first season in the big leagues. He followed up by batting .265 in 2011.
Like many young catchers before him, Lucroy found himself overwhelmed by juggling his responsibilities, both at the plate and behind it. It’s precisely the predicament facing Mets catcher prospect Travis d’Arnaud.
“At the time, you feel like you’re stuck,” Lucroy said at Citi Field on Wednesday. “You’re like ‘Man, what am I gonna do? I don’t know what to do.’ As time goes on, you start maturing and learning.”
Lucroy is hitting .341/.403/.509 this season. This proves that either there is hope for d’Arnaud, or that good things only happen to players on other teams. I’m sure we can find a way to blame Jeffy for this too.
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