Travis d'Arnaud
New York Mets – No. 15
Catcher
Born: (1989-02-10) February 10, 1989 (age 24) Lakewood, California
Bats: Right	Throws: Right

Travis d'Arnaud (born February 10, 1989) is an American professional baseball catcher in the New York Mets organization. Originally drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in 2010 as part of the deal which sent Roy Halladay to the Phillies. He was later traded to the Mets in December 2012 as part of the deal that sent R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays. Travis' older brother Chase is a shortstop in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. On January 29, 2013, d'Arnaud was named number 6 on MLB's Top 100 Prospects list.^[1]

Personal life [edit]

Born and raised in Lakewood, California, d'Arnaud attended Lakewood High. A fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers growing up, his favorite player was Mike Piazza. His competitive older brother Chase, who grew up as an Angels fan, is also a professional baseball player, currently in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.^[2]

After graduating from high school d'Arnaud was committed to playing for the Pepperdine Waves of Pepperdine University.^[3] In the 2007 first year player draft, d'Arnaud was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the supplemental first round with the 37th overall pick. He chose to void his college commitment and signed a minor league contract for $832,500.^[4]

Early career [edit]

In 2007, d'Arnaud started his professional career with the Philadelphia Phillies' Rookie League affiliate, the Gulf Coast League Phillies. He played 41 games in the GCL and put together a .241 batting average and a .626 OPS. In 2008, d'Arnaud began the season with the Phillies' Class-A Short Season affiliate, the Williamsport Crosscutters of the New York–Penn League. He played 48 games in the NYPL, hitting .309 with an OPS of .833 and was selected for the mid-season All-Star game.^[5] From there he was promoted to the Class-A Lakewood BlueClaws.

In 2009, d'Arnaud played with the BlueClaws where he remained all year, playing in 126 games. He hit .255 with an OPS of .738, though he hit 13 home runs. He was once again selected for the All-Star game, this time in the South Atlantic League.^[6] The BlueClaws went on to win the 2009 South Atlantic League championship.^[7]

To begin 2010, d'Arnaud was sent from the Phillies to the Toronto Blue Jays organization in a ten player trade.^[8] The Phillies received Roy Halladay, along with $6,000,000 from the Blue Jays. Toronto received d'Arnaud, Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor, who they later flipped to the Oakland Athletics for Brett Wallace.^[9] Wallace was then traded to the Houston Astros for center-field prospect Anthony Gose.^[10] d'Arnaud played the entire 2010 season with the Dunedin Blue Jays, the Blue Jays' High-A affiliate in the Florida State League. Despite suffering from back problems and playing in a higher league, d'Arnaud put up comparable numbers to his 2009 campaign, hitting .259, an OPS of .726 and 6 home runs in 71 games.^[11] For the week of April 19, d'Arnaud was named FSL Player of the Week and was selected to participate in the midsummer Home Run Derby. He was named a Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star.^[12][13]

In 2011, d'Arnaud's played the entire 2011 season in the Eastern League, with the Blue Jays Double-A affiliate, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Over his first three seasons in the minors, d'Arnaud had steadily improved his defense, but 2011 was the year in which he made vast improvements to all aspects of his offensive ability. He finished the season with a .311 batting average and an OBP of .371 in 114 games. He saw another great spike in power, hitting 21 home runs with a slugging percentage of .542 and 33 doubles. On July 13, d'Arnaud was named to the Eastern League's Mid-Season All-Star team.^[14] He also made the post-season team on August 25, going to his sixth All-Star game in total.^[15] The following day, on August 26, d'Arnaud was named the EL's Most Valuable Player.^[16]

On September 16, the Toronto Blue Jays named d'Arnaud as one of the recipients of the R. Howard Webster award, an award given to the best player at each level of the Blue Jays minor league farm system.^[17] The next day, d'Arnaud went on to win his second minor league championship ring, as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats defeated the Reading Phillies 3 games to 1 in the semi-finals and then defeated the Richmond Flying Squirrels 3 games to 1 in the final series of the Eastern League championship.^[18]

Baseball America named d'Arnaud as the Best Defensive Catcher in the Eastern League for the 2011 season.^[19] They also named him the #2 prospect in the EL, behind highly-touted outfield prospect Bryce Harper and in front of teammate Anthony Gose.^[20] d'Arnaud was also named the starting catcher for the Double-A level in Baseball America's honorary "classifications" All-Star team.^[21]

On September 15, USA Baseball announced that d'Arnaud was selected for its 25-man roster to play in the IBAF's 2011 Baseball World Cup.^[22]

On June 21, d'Arnaud was named to appear in the 2012 All-Star Futures Game.^[23]

On December 17, 2012, the Blue Jays traded d'Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard, John Buck, and Wuilmer Becerra to the New York Mets for R.A. Dickey, Josh Thole, and Mike Nickeas.^[24]

d’Arnaud suffered a non-displaced fracture on his left foot during a Triple-A game April 17, 2013.^[25]

Career accomplishments [edit]

Minor League accomplishments [edit]

• 2011 Team USA - Baseball World Cup
• 2011 Baseball America Classification All-Star
• 2011 Baseball America #2 Prospect - Eastern League
• 2011 Baseball America Best Defensive Catcher - Eastern League
• 2011 R. Howard Webster Award
• 2011 Eastern League Champion
• 2011 Eastern League MVP
• 2011 Eastern League All-Star
• 2011 Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star
• 2010 Florida State League All-Star
• 2010 Florida State League Mid-Season All-Star
• 2010 Florida State League Home Run Derby Participant
• 2010 Florida State League Player of the Week (4/19)
• 2009 South Atlantic League Champion
• 2009 South Atlantic League Mid-Season All-Star
• 2008 New York–Penn League Mid-Season All-Star

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Travis d'Arnaud

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Travis d'Arnaud on Twitter