PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Travis d'Arnaud understands the reality that his grip on the Mets' catching job is tenuous. He is not deaf to manager Terry Collins' recent assertion that backup Rene Rivera has a strong chance to start over him on Opening Day. And if that happens?
"I'm going to feel exactly how I have felt, and I will always feel," d'Arnaud said. "Whatever the team thinks is going to get us to the World Series, I'm in."
With barely a week until Opening Day, all d'Arnaud can do is continue to work on the throwing issues that have plagued him all spring. Following Friday's Grapefruit League loss to the Astros, in which he and Noah Syndergaard allowed four stolen bases, d'Arnaud cued up a split-screen breakdown of how he and Rivera attack base stealers.
Watching the video, d'Arnaud realized that Rivera stays lower to the ground when he pops out of his crouch, keeping his weight back as he transfers energy into his throwing arm. By comparison, d'Arnaud stands tall, adding precious fractions of seconds onto his pop time.
With that as a backdrop, the Mets instructed a team of Minor Leaguers to steal at will on Saturday, during a Minor League intrasquad game at Digital Domain Park. Twice, the Mets even placed a runner on first base to start an inning, giving d'Arnaud and Jacob deGrom more chances to control the running game.
And for the first time all spring, d'Arnaud experienced some success. His second throw was a strike that would have resulted in an out, had the third baseman caught the ball cleanly. His third caught a runner at second for his first prevented theft all spring. (Technically, d'Arnaud is 1-for-13 in Grapefruit League games, though the one caught stealing came on a Steven Matz pickoff play.)
"The only difference this time versus last time is the result," d'Arnaud said. "I'm just trying to trust the process and stick with that."