Last year, Travis d’Arnaud established himself as a major league catcher both behind and at the plate.  He showed how far he had come from the player that had to be sent to down to the minors in 2014 because he wasn’t hitting.

In 67 games, d’Arnaud hit .268/.340/.485 with 12 homers and 41 RBI.  He had a 127 OPS+.  For the most part last year, d’Arnaud spent his time hitting fifth, sixth, and seventh.  For whatever the reason, d’Arnaud was at his best when he was hitting seventh in the lineup.  When he did hit seventh, d’Arnaud was hitting .311/.382/.541 with two homers and 12 RBI.  d’Arnaud was hitting seventh in the lineup when he hit three homers in the postseason last year.  Given the construction of the Mets roster this year, you could make the case that d’Arnaud should’ve been hitting seventh.

Instead, Terry Collins sees him as the eighth place hitter on this Mets team.  There was a legitimate reason for it when he was hitting behind players like David Wright, Lucas Duda, Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto, Neil Walker, and Asdrubal Cabrera. Now, it is a bad decision.  Duda and Wright are on the disabled list, and Conforto is in the minor leagues.  Now, Collins is hitting d’Arnaud behind players he is clearly better.  Take a look at the players who are currently hitting ahead of d’Arnaud:

• James Loney – a career .285/.338/.411 hitter who was released by the Rays prior to the start of the season.
• Wilmer Flores – a career .252/.290/.383 hitter who lost his starting job to Ruben Tejada last year and was never considered for a starting job this season
• Brandon Nimmo – a promising rookie

Given how much d’Arnaud progressed last year, it is easy to say he is better than these options, and accordingly, he should hit higher in the lineup. However, d’Arnaud is struggling this year only hitting .206/.270/.250 with no homers.  There are various reasons for these struggles from his wrapping his hands around Julio Franco style when he bats to him starting with an open stance and closing it as the pitch is being delivered.  He’s just not as quiet in his stance as he was last year when he was having his most successful season.  It’s possible some of these changes were made due to his shoulder.  It’s also possible these changes were made due to the struggles he has been facing while hitting eighth in the order.

In 17 of his 19 games this year, d’Arnaud has hit .203/.277/.254 while hitting eighth in the order.  For his career, he is hitting .194/.278/.287 from that spot in the lineup.  That includes him going 0-3 against the Nationals yesterday.  In his entire career, d’Arnaud has never hit well out of the eighth spot in the lineup.  It has been more of the same this year, and quite possibly, it has led to d’Arnaud reverting to some bad habits at the plate.  The Mets need to get him going in order to help with their offensive woes.  It’s possible the best way to cure help him and the Mets is to take him out of the eighth spot.