New York Mets: Two catchers are better than one?
The New York Mets are going to be following what’s a new trend in baseball; splitting the catching duties.
Catcher, like running backs in football, has gone the way of the timeshare unless you have a dominant force like Buster Posey or Gary Sanchez. During last season, the Los Angeles Dodgers used Yasmani Grandal and Austin Barnes. The Arizona Diamondback just added Alex Avila to go with Jeff Mathis. The New York Mets are the next team follow this trend.
Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki may not be the answer individually, but as a unit may be enough to get the job done on a day in and day out basis.
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When this split behind the plate began in August, it seemed to work out well. d’Arnaud hit .297/.350/.571 over his last 30 games. Plawecki in 27 games hit .303/.411/.474. If they can produce similarly over the full season, the Mets may really have something.
We feel pretty good about those two,” Alderson said of d’Arnaud and Plawecki. “The other thing you have to do, of course, is evaluate what other options exist. At that position, I think it would be difficult for us to find a pair that we like appreciably better. I think we’ve been generally happy with our catching play.”
The Mets signed Jose Lobaton this off-season to a Minor League deal and also have Tomas Nido as additional depth at the position which is their ninth-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline. Jonathan Lucroy is still out there in the free agent market. The 31-year-old struggled last season to an 82 WRC+ and a .265/.345/.371 with the Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies.
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For a team that’s watching what they spend like the New York Mets are, unless there’s an injury, I think this is the route they should go. They would be better off spending their extra money on a third baseman and some pitching depth, instead of putting that money into a position where a cheaper combination is better.
The New York Mets are a team that’s going to rely on their pitching staff to get them back to the playoffs for the third time in four years. Part of the pitching success does rely on how good the catchers are. If Plawecki and d’Arnaud can be productive on both sides of the ball as a combination, then it puts the Mets ahead of the game.