When the Mets promoted Kevin Plawecki from Triple-A Las Vegas on April 20, Sandy Alderson said he would be the primary catcher while they wait for Travis d’Arnaud to return from the disabled list.
But on May 5, just two weeks after Plawecki arrived, the Mets promoted Johnny Monell with the idea he could provide more offense off the bench from the left side of the plate.
However, Plawecki sat for the third time in four games on Sunday. Terry Collins started Johnny Monell instead, citing the fact Noah Syndergaard had worked with Monell for most of the season while in Triple-A.
Monell went 0-for-3 with a run scored on Sunday at the plate.
Collins said Plawecki will start the first three games of this series against the Cardinals – presumably, one of Monell or Anthony Recker will start Thursday’s series finale, which is a 1:10 PM start.
Plawecki is just 5-for-25 with three runs scored, a home run and six RBI in eight games since Monell was promoted on May 5, a span of 13 days.
If Monell is here, he certainly needs to play at times, otherwise he’s just chewing up a roster spot. But this is often the consequence of carrying three catchers. Sure, it affords the manager an opportunity to use one of them in a pinch hit spot, but it’s rare they can play other positions, which limits their use and forces the manager to split the time up to keep everyone fresh.
The thing is, Plawecki is one of the top catching prospects in the game. He’s shown with regular playing time he belongs here as a regular catcher in a small sample. Playing as infrequently as he has over the last couple of weeks does him no good, and it diminishes his value on the roster.
Furthermore, the Mets are really lacking another backup infielder to Ruben Tejada with the third catcher on the roster, which limits Collins’ flexibility late in games or if they play a long extra-inning game.
At some point, the Mets will probably remove one of the catchers on the roster, and there’s been some buzzing among people close to the team that Recker could be the roster casualty when that decision comes. Recker does have options remaining, so they could spend one of them and send him to Triple-A if they prefer to have the left-handed bat backing up behind the plate.
Plawecki is hitting .226/.269/.371 with three doubles, two home runs and ten RBI in 67 plate appearances over 18 games this season.
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