Mets news: Travis d’Arnaud cleared for baseball activity

Travis d’Arnaud, out since suffering a broken finger on April 19, has been cleared for baseball activity, Mets assistant GM John Ricco announced. For the time being, d’Arnaud is free to do everything except swing a bat.

According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, d’Arnaud will likely be cleared to swing a bat in a week.

D’Arnaud was hit in the right hand by a pitch on April 19, resulting in a broken metacarpal (pinky). His hand was placed in a soft cast on April 20, and Monday was the end of the three-week period that the cast needed to remain on.

After d’Arnaud’s injury, it was reported that as long as the bone was healed once the three-week period passed, he would be immediately cleared for baseball activity – and that’s exactly how things played out.

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In d’Arnaud’s stead, Kevin Plawecki was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas and inserted as the starting catcher. In 53 plate appearances spanning 14 games since being called up, Plawecki has hit .240/.283/.360 with one home run and five RBI.

Thoughts:

After suffering his injury, the best-case scenario has so far been playing out for Travis d’Arnaud.

This didn’t seem like a relatively minor injury when it happened, but that’s what it’s been. As long as d’Arnaud doesn’t suffer any hiccups in his recovery from this point on – and there’s no reason to think he will – d’Arnaud will likely return roughly a month after the injury occurred.

D’Arnaud will obviously need to build the strength in his finger/hand back up, but once he’s cleared to swing a bat (perhaps in about a week), he should be close to rehab games and activation from the disabled list.

The Mets’ offense has been struggling mightily so far in May, and they’ll likely get the return of d’Arnaud soon – coming shortly after the expected return of David Wright, who has been out since April 15 due to a strained right hamstring. Once Wright and d’Arnaud return, the Mets’ offense will be whole again for the first time since the first week of the season.

Once d’Arnaud is activated, it’s likely that Kevin Plawecki will be sent back to Triple-A. There’s always a chance the Mets opt to keep Plawecki while removing Anthony Recker from the roster, but that’s neither expected nor the best move. Plawecki needs to play every day at this point, and he won’t get a chance to play regularly once d’Arnaud returns.