PORT ST. LUCIE — Travis d’Arnaud had too much on his plate last season.
Most of all, he had to prove to pitchers they could believe in him as a catcher. Hitting was secondary.
The pitchers believe in the young catcher now, and he believes in the Mets’ young pitchers. Check out these words to see how much he believes.
As d’Arnaud ran down the rotation Monday afternoon, he had a big smile on his face.
“We’re looking good this year and I think we are going to do some amazing things,’’ d’Arnaud said to a small group of reporters at the Mets spring training complex.
“I expect a lot from this team. I expect us to play hard, and ultimately win and try to make [the] playoffs, that’s what I want to do. I want to make the playoffs, win a World Series and I want to get a ring.’’
Some huge goals for the young catcher.
This is a much different d’Arnaud from last season. He showed up for early workouts. He’s confident. He looks stronger and is healthy. For d’Arnaud, it’s all about staying on the field, as injuries have cost him so much time through the years. He has twice been traded for Cy Young winners, and expectations have been high.
The big change for d’Arnaud will be not to try too hard.
“Travis had to make sure the pitchers believed in him and that’s where he focused most of his attention last year,’’ Mets manager Terry Collins said. “That’s what he had to do.’’
So most of d’Arnaud’s energy was focused on being the type of receiver the Mets pitchers needed, the kind of catcher they want to throw to each game. That part of the process is complete, and now d’Arnaud can focus on his offensive game.
The Mets need him to hit. He batted only .202 last year in 99 major league at-bats. His on-base percentage was .286. D’Arnaud went back to basics, keeping his swing simple and short.
“I worked on just shortening my swing,’’ he said of his offseason in Southern California with his brother Chase, 27, an infielder with the Pirates organization. “Last year, I feel like every pitch, I was thinking something about my swing compared to focusing on the ball and focusing on seeing the ball and hitting the ball. I just have to slow the game down, and toward the end I started feeling a little more comfortable and a lot of weight came off my shoulders.’’
That swing was in evidence Monday as he hit in a group that included Ike Davis. D’Arnaud was not rushing his swings and wasn’t trying to hit every ball out of the ballpark. He focused on hitting line drives.
Monday was d’Arnaud’s 25th birthday. He appears to be here for the long haul after starting in the Phillies system and then being traded to the Blue Jays and on to the Mets.
The best thing about being with the Mets’ young pitchers, he said, “is that I get to grow with them. We get to live through a lot of ups, a lot of downs together. It’s like a big development side and I’m looking forward to that too.
“Now I feel like I know a lot of their mind-sets on the mound and that makes it real easy for me, a lot easier than last year to be able to make adjustments mid-game and figure out what they are thinking. Defense is my No. 1 job.’’
Hitting is his job now, too.