Just Mets

Travis d’Arnaud had hit either sixth or seventh in each of the first eight games of the season, but for the first time in his big league career, he was assigned the second spot in the batting order on Wednesday in the absence of David Wright.

D’Arnaud was as deserving as any to be installed in the top of the order. He was hitting .308 with a .745 OPS with only three strikeouts over the first eight games while hitting down in the lineup.

And, d’Arnaud delivered.

D’Arnaud went 2-for-4 with a walk, solo homer, two runs scored and one RBI in the second spot of the lineup on Wednesday.

“I thought Travis did a great job,” Terry Collins said after Wednesday’s win. “Everybody’s wondering who you hit in David’s spot and Travis went in there and did a great job.”

After his big night at the plate, d’Arnaud is hitting .333 with an .897 OPS, one home run and eight RBI over his first nine games.

Collins praised d’Arnaud for his adjustment when he returned from Triple-A Las Vegas last year – he hit .272 with an .805 OPS, ten home runs and 32 RBI in 69 games after being recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas on June 24.

“I think one thing that helped Travis in the second half, and I’m going to give him all the credit, he figured out what he has to do to have success here,” Collins explained about d’Arnaud “One of the things is to be aggressive early. We’ve seen what he can do when he hits. You’ve got to coincide that with making sure your pitch selection is pretty good, but after the second half last year I think he has confidence in his own ability.”

d’Arnaud is grateful Collins had faith to install him in the top of the lineup.

“It meant the world to me,” d’Arnaud said. “Even yesterday when he got thrown out for me, that fired me up and kicked me into an extra gear.”

d’Arnaud has benefitted from seeing a lot of fastballs so far in this young season. But he’s also showing even more plate discipline than he had at any point during last season, a sign of a lot of growth from the promising young catcher. He doesn’t chase hardly at all, and he has done a great job so far of attacking balls in the strike zone and being selectively aggressive early in counts.

He’s also shown improvement behind the plate, something he told me on Tuesday he is particularly pleased with. Considering his defense was a major concern coming in, his pitch framing has been excellent, and while his throwing is still a work in progress. his throwing mechanics look quicker and more compact, a credit to both d’Arnaud and Bob Geren who have worked tirelessly on getting this part of his game right.

It’s exciting to see this coming together for d’Arnaud. He’s been a promising prospect for a very long time, and there was some concern the constant injuries were beginning to derail him back in 2013.

He’s battled adversity and has been humbled in the process, but it finally looks like the glue is starting to dry for d’Arnaud.