SAN FRANCISCO — The New York Mets replaced one catcher with another late Saturday night, and manager Terry Collins said it was a very hard decision to demote Travis d’Arnaud to the minors.
In moves officially announced Sunday morning, the Mets sending the struggling young d’Arnaud to Triple-A Las Vegas and recalled Taylor Teagarden.
D’Arnaud was hitting .180 overall and just .115 in eight games since returning from the disabled list after recovering from a concussion.
“He was our guy coming into spring training,” Collins said Sunday before the Mets’ 6-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants. “He’s been our guy since he got called up last year. But he’s a young player, still learning, still trying to get better. You weigh the factors of is he getting something out of this or is it hurting him in the long run?”
Collins said d’Arnaud needs to fix some mechanical problems with his hitting stroke and decided it would be easier for him to get back on track away from New York and in Triple-A.
“One of the things we saw was he tried to make adjustments daily,” Collins said. “It’s hard to do. It’s hard to do here. … It’s hard to do in this market. There’s not a lot of room for forgiveness here. That’s what I told him. As hard as you’re working and as bright as your future is, it’s hard to get going here.
“There’s some things that he’s got to get fixed, and one of the things is to go down where bright lights aren’t so on you on a daily basis to where you can relax a little bit and find your swing.”
Collins said he expects d’Arnaud to spend at least a few weeks playing for Las Vegas.
“If Travis goes down there and starts to drive the ball and do the things that everybody knows he can do, then he’ll be back,” the manager said.
Collins said Teagarden, 30, would split playing time with Anthony Recker. Teagarden, who signed with the Mets as a free agent on Jan. 6, was hitting .279 with 19 runs, four doubles, eight home runs and 19 RBIs in 34 games for Las Vegas.
Teagarden said the fact that he spent spring training with the Mets and worked with their pitchers should make the transition easier.
“It’s not like I’m coming into a brand new team where I haven’t seen these guys at all,” Teagarden said. “It shouldn’t hopefully take too much to get acclimated with these guys and get on the same page so that there’s no learning curve and get right back into the action.”
In 163 major league games with the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers, Teagarden has a .206 career average with 26 doubles, 20 home runs and 63 RBIs.