Last year was an abomination for Travis d’Arnaud.  The catcher had another injury plagued year, and he eventually lost his starting job to Rene Rivera.  Part of the reason was his manager did not trust him catching Noah Syndergaard because he could not hold on base runners.  The other part was he believed Rivera to be some sort of pitcher whisperer leading him to catch Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo when they joined the rotation.  With d’Arnaud hitting just .247/.307/.323, he didn’t exactly force his way into the lineup.

That made the 2017 season a pivotal one for d’Arnaud.

Things started out well for him. Fifteen games into the season, d’Arnaud had seemingly recaptured his 2015 hitting .270/.357/.541, and then as always seems to be the case with him an injury happened.  While following through on a throw to second base, d’Arnaud’s hand hit the bat of Aaron Altherr causing him to the leave the game.  With the Mets being the Mets, they had d’Arnaud play through the injury until he could no longer.

In the subsequent 10 games, d’Arnaud would hit .091/.167/.364.  With him obviously unable to play, the Mets finally put him on the disabled list with a bone bruise in his wrist.

When d’Arnaud came back, he struggled at the plate hitting .234/.278/.430 from the date he was activated from the disabled list into the All Star break.  Part of this was his extremely low .247 BABIP.  Now, d’Arnaud has typically always had low BABIPs with a career .273 mark entering this season.  Even in his career year in 2015, it was just .289.  Still, he was never a .247 BABIP hitter.

There may be many reasons for this.  Players tend to suffer the ill effects of hand and wrist injuries after the injuries have been deemed healed enough to play.  It’s also possible d’Arnaud suffered from Terry Collins‘ time sharing system with d’Arnaud having his pitchers and Rivera having the others.  It’s possible this prevented d’Arnaud from getting into a rhythm.  It’s also possible it was just a stretch of bad luck.

Whatever the case, d’Arnaud has been a much better player coming out of the All Star break.  Over the past nine games, d’Arnaud is hitting .333/.394/.400 with two doubles and five RBI.  Despite his not hitting for much power, he’s gotten some big RBIs.

But it’s more than just his hitting.  Recently, d’Arnaud has done more to take over the game from behind the plate.  The other day when Addison Reed was in a war of words with Home Plate Umpire Dan Iassogna, d’Arnaud stepped in, and he probably saved the closer from an ejection from a hot headed umpire.  We’ve also seen him make more mound visits to get a pitcher back in the inning and the game.

No, he’s still not doing a good job throwing out base runners going 0-3 in the second half.  In a surprising turn of events, d’Arnaud actually has poor pitch framing numbers.  Still, we know he’s been typically very good in that area, and he’s likely going to return to being good in that area again.  Just watching games, it seems like he’s getting that outside corner again.

Overall, it appears d’Arnaud is finally showing the Mets he is a complete catcher.  It’s coming at an important time as well.  The organization is in a period of transition with the team being in a position to sell at the deadline.  When you have a season like the Mets have had you have to reassess everyone . . . d’Arnaud included. If he continues to catch this well, he is going to cement his status as the Mets everyday catcher in 2018.

The caveat of course is he needs to stay healthy.  That’s always easier said that done with him.