When the Mets activated Travis d’Arnaud from the disabled list, they decided to send Kevin Plawecki down to AAA and keep Rene Rivera.  Obviously, Rivera is going to serve as d’Arnaud’s backup, but there is also a possibility that he could have an expanded role with the team as Noah Syndergaard‘s personal catcher.  It is a move that makes a lot of sense for both the Mets and Syndergaard.

It is no secret that Syndergaard struggles holding runners on base.  This became painfully obvious on April 25th when the Reds were a perfect five for five in stolen base attempts.  In Syndergaard’s next start, Brandon Crawford and Matt Duffy each stole a base while he was pitching.  Coming into that game, Crawford had stole 14 bases over five years and Duffy had not stolen a base all year. For his career, base runners were 27 for 30 in stolen base attempts when he was on the mound.  Through May 1st, base stealers were 12/13 in five games  This was something that could have become a mental issue for a pitcher that was on the brink of realizing his full potential as an ace.

After that game, Terry Collins began to have River catch Syndergaard.  With  In fact, Rivera has caught eight of Syndergaard’s last nine starts.  In those eight starts, there have been fewer stolen base attempts.  Part of this has been Syndergaard making adjustments.  A larger part of that was Rivera’s arm behind the plate.  While base runners are still having success on the base paths, Rivera’s presence has at least allowed Syndergaard to focus on the batter instead of being overly concerned with the running game.

Overall, Rivera’s presence is a big reason why he should be Syndergaard’s personal catcher.  With the Rays, Rivera was a part in the development of Chris Archer, who is a pitcher with every bit of the potential and ability as Syndergaard.  With Rivera behind the plate, opposing batters hit for a 93 OPS+ as opposed to a 100 OPS+ with other catchers.  With Rivera gone this year, Archer is struggling.  He is 4-9 with a 4.60 ERA and a 1.442 WHIP.  Rivera has had a similar effect on Syndergaard this year.  When River is behind the plate, Syndergaard has a 2.12 ERA and 1.026 WHIP.  This is the lowest ERA and WHIP combination Syndergaard has with any Mets catcher who has caught him for more than one game.

Aside from the positive effect of a Syndergaard/Rivera pairing, there is another consideration.  Throughout his career, d’Arnaud has had trouble staying on the field.  If the Mets were to give him every fifth day off during a Syndergaard start, it might allow him to be fresher as the season progresses.  As he’s fresher, he may be less prone to injury.  Presumably, not having his top hitting hand abused by Syndergaard’s 100 MPH fastballs could be beneficial to d’Arnaud when he’s at bat.  Overall, this could be a very successful strategy that other pitching dependent teams have used in the past.

During the Braves run with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz, Maddux used a personal catcher.  It was mostly Eddie Perez who puts up similar offensive numbers to Rivera.  Maddux felt comfortable with Perez behind the plate.  Judging from Maddux’s Hall of Fame statistics, it’s hard to fault him for wanting his personal catcher.  Meanwhile, Glavine, Smoltz, and the rest of the Braves’ starting staff used the Braves’ starting catcher which was the offensively superior Javy Lopez.  With Lopez getting those additional days off, he was stronger as the season progressed, and he put up terrific offensive numbers.  Given how similarly these Braves teams are built to the current Mets team, the Mets should really consider following this model especially when you see how well a Syndergaard-Rivera pairing has worked.