When the Mets demoted rookie catcher Travis d’Arnaud to the minors in early June he was hitting .180 and had a career batting average of .189 in 66 games.
He went down to Triple-A, destroyed Pacific Coast League pitching for three weeks, and has returned a completely different player. d’Arnaud is hitting .286 with 10 homers, 15 doubles, and an .839 OPS in 57 games since rejoining the Mets in late June.
Even including his horrendous pre-demotion numbers in his season totals d’Arnaud has posted a .728 OPS in 96 games. For some context the average MLB catcher has a .695 OPS this season, so he’s been solidly above average as a 25-year-old despite a terrible start and plenty of people writing him off as a bust.
d’Arnaud ranked among Baseball America’s top-40 prospects in four consecutive seasons and is a career .344 hitter with a 1.045 OPS in 101 games at Triple-A. Sometimes it just takes a little patience.
