There is no more physically, psychologically, and intellectually demanding position than catcher. 

The catcher needs to know the entire scouting report for the opposition at the plate and on the basepaths. The catcher needs to balance a hitter’s strength and weaknesses against his pitcher’s in calling a game. If a pitcher doesn’t have a pitch working, he has to create a new strategy on the fly. When a pitch is thrown, he has to do all he can to make sure the pitch is called a strike. Throughout the game, he has to keep the pitcher’s head in the game. It’s especially tough when the pitcher is getting squeezed. 

When his team is up to bat, he needs to talk to the pitcher about the batters coming up the next inning. He needs to talk with the manager and pitching coach not only about that, but also how the pitcher is throwing and what he has left. By the way, at some point, he has to bat 4-4 times in a game to help put some runs on the board for the pitcher. 

The catcher faces pitches in the dirt he has to eat up with any part of his body. He will get nicked with a foul tip or an errant swing. Runners try to take him out with a slide, or in very rare instances, he can get run over at home plate. The catcher is bound to have some bumps and bruises or trips to the DL. Even after a tough game, the catcher comes back and does it all tomorrow. 

Even though all of this is gust the tip of the iceberg of a catcher’s responsibilities, how do most people judge the effectiveness of a catcher?  Their effectiveness in throwing out potential base stealers. 

It was the topic in John Harper’s New York Daily News column about Travis d’Arnaud‘s troubles throwing out baserunners in the postseason. Actually, to call it a difficulty is an understatement. Despite being better than league average in throwing out baserunners during the regular season, d’Arnaud struggled mightily in the postseason. Would be basestealers were a perfect 11/11 against him and the Mets pitching staff. 
This was a major focus of Harper’s article. For his part, d’Arnaud readily admits that shouldn’t happen, and he says he needs to improve. It was an important enough issue for Terry Collins that he made it a point to take a part in the first throwing drills of Spring Training. There was talk of a need to improve d’Arnaud’s mechanics and the like. 

What was overlooked was that of the 11 people who stole a base against the Mets in the postseason, only one scored a run. A big reason why is that d’Arnaud excels in all the other areas of being a catcher. 

Since he became the Mets catcher, d’Arnaud has been an excellent pitch framer. Last year, he led the majors in highest percentage of balls being called strikes. When there is a premium being placed on the pitch counts and innings pitched for this young staff, every strike d’Arnaud can steal is crucial. Furthermore, getting strikes called puts a pitcher in an advantageous position. This usually leads to shorter at bats and more outs. 

Additionally, there is the subjective element of catching. The pitchers like throwing to him. They feel comfortable while he’s behind the plate. He instills confidence in his staff. 

By the way, he’s also a terrific hitter. He was the second best offensive catcher in baseball last year. In the NLCS, he hit a homerun off of the Homerun Apple. d’Arnaud hit it so hard, the apple needed a bandaid. 

So overall, d’Arnaud does everything you could ever want your catcher to do. He has the confidence of his pitching staff. He gets the pitches called for strikes. He is a good hitter. Basically, d’Arnaud comes to beat you in multiple ways each and every day. If he struggles for a stretch with throwing out baserunners, there are other parts of his game that overshadow it, that help to prevent that run from scoring. 

d’Arnaud may struggle throwing out people again next year. That’s fine. As long as he keeps doing what he’s doing, he will still be a terrific all-around catcher. He will help the Mets return to the postseason and win the World Series. 

Editor’s Note: this article first appeared on metsmerizedonline.com