Last night might’ve been the breaking point for Travis d’Arnaud.  The Mets had a runner in scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the eighth as the Mets trailed the Braves 5-4.  In what was his biggest at bat of the season, d’Arnaud weakly grounded out to shortstop to end the inning and the rally. This could have been the culmination in what has been a lost season for d’Arnaud.

After hitting .268/.340/.485 with 12 homers and 41 RBI last year, this was supposed to be the year d’Arnaud took off.  It hasn’t happened.  Whether it was losing catching and bench coach Bob Geren to the Dodgers, his  rotator cuff injury, his irregular playing time, or just bad mechanics at the plate, this hasn’t been his year.  He hasn’t been hitting for power.  Overall, he is hitting .246/.300/.321 with only four homers and 14 RBI.  In fact, d’Arnaud hasn’t had an RBI since August 26th.  He hasn’t homered since August 2nd.  In 11 games this month, he is hitting .200/.282/.200 with no extra base hits or RBI.  At this point, with the Wild Card on the line, the Mets can ill afford to play him.

The question then become is not d’Arnaud, then who?  People will mostly point to Rene Rivera.

Fact is, if the Mets are dissatisfied with d’Arnaud, they shouldn’t want Rivera either.  Like d’Arnaud, Rivera has also played 11 games in September.  In those games, he is hitting .174/.269/.174.  Similarly, he has no extra base hits or RBI.  Fact is, he’s been even more of a blackhole offensively than d’Arnaud.  That should be no surprise given the fact that he’s a career .213/.263/.332 hitter.  If you want Rivera to continue to be Noah Syndergaard‘s personal catcher, that’s one thing.  However, Rivera cannot play everyday with those offensive numbers.

That leaves the Mets with only one other option – Kevin Plawecki.

From an offensive standpoint, there are many negative things you can say about Plawecki.  Before being sent down to AAA, he was hitting .194/.301/.258 with five doubles, one homer, and 10 RBI.  He is hitting .231 with runners in scoring position and .212 with men on base.  In his entire major league career, he is a .208/.285/.281 hitter with four homers and 31 RBI.  He’s been a dead pull hitter that hits for no power.    Those are the numbers that got him sent down to AAA.

However, in AAA, he seemed to regain some of the promise he had as a good offensive catcher.  In 55 AAA games, Plawecki hit .300/.384/.484 with 11 doubles, eight homers, and 40 RBI.  Given the fact that the Pacific Coast League is a hitter’s league, these numers are not outstanding.  However, they are a step in the right direction.  Heading in the right direction is a lot more than you can say for Plawecki than you can for d’Arnaud and Rivera.

In his time with the Mets, one thing we have seen with Plawecki is he is a good defensive catcher and pitch framer.  With his time in AAA, he has also had the opportunity to catch Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman, and Josh Smoker this year.  With that in mind, he is already up to speed on what they throw and how they get batters out.  This means the only real issue with Plawecki is whether he will hit like the Mets once thought he would.

Even if Plawecki hits at the same .208 clip he has in his entire major league career, he will be a better offensive option than d’Arnaud and Rivera have been this month.  With that in mind, there is really no downside to giving Plawecki another shot.