Only two seasons ago, baseball glimpsed what could be Travis d’Arnaud’s ceiling. In 2015, he posted the third-highest isolated slugging percentage (ISO) and third-best weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) among catchers with 250 plate appearances or greater. Two years ago, he was one of many bright spots on an up-and-coming, pennant-winning New York Mets team.
D’Arnaud’s 2016 season, however, was a disaster. He spent eight weeks on the disabled list with an injury to his rotator cuff. He hit so poorly (74 wRC+ and a slash line of .247/.307/.343) that he finished the season in a timeshare with Rene Rivera, a career .