The Mets felt Kevin Plawecki was close to being major league ready out of spring training.
Hopefully two weeks in Las Vegas completed the job.
It had better have, because the Mets’ catching prospect will be pressed into duty after starter Travis d’Arnaud suffered a broken right hand in Sunday’s 7-6 win over the Marlins. Plawecki headed for New York on Sunday evening and will make his major league debut Tuesday against the Braves at Citi Field.
“You’re not going to find a guy like that on the market,” general manager Sandy Alderson said of the 24-year-old Plawecki. “I got all the confidence in the world Kevin will do a nice job for us. We’re in a fortunate position to have someone of his caliber available to us.”
Plawecki, a strapping 6-foot-2, 225-pound Indiana native, will have large spikes to fill, replacing d’Arnaud as the Mets’ No. 1 catcher. D’Arnaud, who will have tests at the Hospital for Special Surgery on Monday, got off to a fast start this year, leading the Mets with 10 RBIs and was hitting .317 with two home runs. When David Wright was put on the 15-day disabled list with a strained groin, d’Arnaud was moved into the second spot in the batting order, and thrived. He also showed improvement defensively, throwing out three of seven would-be base stealers.
“I don’t want to suggest for a moment that we’re happy about this, but we’re fortunate to have somebody of Kevin’s ability to come up and replace [Travis] for the time being,” Alderson said.
Plawecki has been considered an elite prospect since the Mets took him in the first round (35th overall) of the 2012 draft out of Purdue, the extra pick they received as compensation for losing Jose Reyes to the Blue Jays. Both MLB.com and Baseball America have him rated as the No. 63 best prospect in the sport and the No. 2 prospect with the Mets, behind only right-hander Noah Syndergaard.
“When I saw him in spring training, I thought he could be a very good player,” manager Terry Collins said. “I thought he handled himself very well behind the plate. Everybody that’s been around him thinks he’s going to hit. Can he handle it here?”
The Mets will certainly find out.
His best season in the minors came last year, when Plawecki hit a combined .309 between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Las Vegas while blasting 11 home runs and knocking in 64 runs.
After getting off to a slow start this season in Las Vegas, going hitless in his first 17 at-bats, he had come on lately, with eight hits in his last 18 at-bats.
“He’s a big league player from what I’ve seen in the short time I played with him,” said Eric Campbell, Plawecki’s former Las Vegas teammate. “He’s a grinder. He’ll give you tough at-bats and he’s also got the ability to drive the ball to all fields. His offense I don’t think is that different from Travis. He’s a guy that can do damage.
“One hundred percent,” Campbell said, when asked how Plawecki’s skills would translate to the majors league. “He’ll be fine.”
The Mets are counting on him to be.
