PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — After one of the worst pitched seasons in team history, the Mets changed their manager and their pitching coach and even overhauled their medical operation.
But they also planned to rely on a not-so-secret weapon: better catching.
As simple as it sounds, the new manager, Mickey Callaway, and his pitching coach, Dave Eiland, are encouraging their projected catching platoon of Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki to be more assertive this season, to take ownership of both the planning for games and their own improvement.
Instead of coaches, d’Arnaud and Plawecki will be the ones leading the advance meetings before series and games.