A handful of Mets players change jersey numbers

The Mets revealed Tuesday that some players and bench coach Bob Geren will report to Port St. Lucie with a different jersey number. Here are the changes:

"Travis d’Arnaud – 7 (was 15)Bob Geren – 15 (was 7)Kevin Plawecki – 22 (was 72)Brandon Allen – 30 (was 60)Steven Matz – 32 (was 63)Noah Syndergaard – 34 (was 55)Buddy Carlyle – 43 (was 44)Cory Mazzoni – 47 (was 75)Jack Leathersich – 51 (was 81)Danny Muno – 74 (was 64)"

Travis d’Arnaud will now sport #7, most famously worn by Jose Reyes and Ed Kranepool.

Geren will take #15, which many fans will associate with Carlos Beltran. Plawecki will now wear #22, last worn by Eric Young Jr, while Brandon Allen will take over #30, which Andrew Brown had last year. Syndergaard grabs #34, a number that Brandon Lyon wore last year and Mike Pelfrey, a few season prior.

Carlyle will takeover R.A. Dickey‘s #43, while Mazzoni will don Jose Valverde and Tom Glavine‘s #47. Finally, Leathersich will be the first player to wear #51 since Rick White in 2001 and Muno will be the first Mets player to ever wear #74.

Thoughts from Danny Abriano:

It’s pretty cool that Steven Matz took number 32 and Noah Syndergaard took number 34. That means a big chunk of the future of the Mets’ rotation will have numbers 32 (Matz), 33 (Matt Harvey) and 34 (Syndergaard).

The other main piece here is the fact that Travis d’Arnaud will be the first player to wear number 7 since Jose Reyes left. This will cause some to start a faux controversy, but it’s much ado about nothing.

Travis d’Arnaud is one of the most important players the Mets have and one who can possibly be their backstop for the next 10 years. He’s more than deserving of number 7.