CLEARWATER, Fla. — To get a better understanding of Travis d’Arnaud’s future with the Mets, you must travel back to his past with the Phillies.
Roly de Armas was his first manager. Mike Compton was the Phillies’ minor league catching coordinator. D’Arnaud has earned a special place in both men’s baseball hearts.
“I’ve started professionally in 1965 and I worked with and seen a lot of great catchers, and the great ones just have a different gear. Travis is one of those guys,’’ Compton told The Post yesterday at the Carpenter Complex, where Phillies’ minor league players train. “It’s like Usain Bolt; he can just run faster than other people. It’s just there.
“I was with Johnny Bench when he was a young fella,’’ said Compton, the Phillies field coordinator, “and Travis, when he’s off on another field and you look over; physically, he walks and looks a lot like Johnny. His shoulders hang like John’s; he’s got big hands like John, and the mannerisms. He’s got a lot of tools and he is such a gifted hitter.’’
If d’Arnaud, 24, can play and lead anything like Bench, the Big Red Machine Hall of Fame catcher, the Mets have themselves an Amazin’ steal.
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“Travis is one of my tops of all time,’’ said de Armas, who will manage the Gulf Coast Phillies again this season, his 28th year as a minor league manager. “I’ve been in the game for 40 years. It was a blessing to coach Travis. He is the same kid now as when he walked into here as a 17-year old. Of course, he’s grown up, but he has the same personality, the same love for the game. That doesn’t always happen, sometimes they change. Travis always came to the ballpark ready to work. The Mets got themselves a good one.’’
The Phillies selected d’Arnaud with the 37th pick of the 2007 draft and de Armas became his manager in rookie ball. D’Arnaud worked with Compton, 68, and de Armas, 61, until he was traded to the Blue Jays in the deal for Roy Halladay Dec. 16, 2009. Three years and one day later he came to the Mets in the R.A. Dickey trade.
“I don’t know if anybody else was ever traded for two Cy Young winners,’’ de Armas said. “When you trade that kind of pitcher, you’re asking for a lot and you get a kid like him.’’
Both men laugh about d’Arnaud’s love of hitting.
“It was always tough to find him to catch bullpens,’’ de Armas explained, “because he was always in the cage hitting. ‘Get Travis! Where is he?’ He’s in the cage hitting.’
“When I’d have seven or eight catchers working,’’ Compton said, “I’d look up, and he’d be over there hitting off a tee in a cage between blocking assignments.’’
“He could always hit, but his second year, when he stayed back with us for extended spring, baboom that’s when he really took off, the receiving, the throwing, the blocking,’’ de Armas said. “He took pride in his catching just like he did in his hitting.
“I’m sure there were times when he thought I was trying to physically kill him,’’ Compton said, referring to all of the extra work. “But I knew he was going to be good. The guys who are really gifted you can do more to them. You can take them to a different level. He caught on and realized it was just important to be a catcher as it was to be a hitter. Once he understood my motivation — and we had a lot of talks — it was like goodness gracious. Every day was like looking at a new person, he was moving so fast.’’
“In games, when the game intensified, he intensified,’’ Compton said. “He would rise to the occasion. He had that focus. The special ones have that.’’
Compton has an autographed picture of d’Arnaud on his wall of fame in his office.
“That says it all,’’ Compton said. As I said goodbye, de Armas offered these words:
“When you see Travis, give him a hug from me.’’