Sometimes a trip back down to the minor leagues is all a player needs to find their game and clear their heads. After all before he won a collection of Cy Young Awards and was the best pitcher in baseball for five years running, Roy Halladay was send back all the way to Single-A after some massive early struggles in his career. Hitters of course can use the time back on the farm to also rediscover their swing and uncover the talent that made him such a prime prospect in the first place. Such is the case of New York Mets catcher Travis D'Arnaud who was such a highly thought of prospect that he was traded for not one but TWO Cy Young Award winners. Hitting over .300 with big time power nearly every season in the minors, D'Arnaud only had to conquer his susceptibility to injuries in order to unleash his potential. Well as it often goes for young players, the initial path in the major leagues proved to be a struggle for D'Arnaud as he fell flat on his face both during his 2013 debut (.202/1 HR/99 at-bats) and in the first two months of 2014. D'Arnaud reached rock bottom on June 6th as his average sank to a beyond horrendous .180 with only 3 home runs. The Mets finally sent D'Arnaud back to Triple-A Las Vegas with no immediate return date in sight.
Once away from the bright spotlight of New York, D'Arnaud almost immediately turned right back into the hitting star he always had been in the minors. In a truly ridiculous display of locked in hitting, D'Arnaud proceeded to hit .436 with 6 home runs and 16 RBI in only 15 games. Utterly crazy numbers no matter the level. The Mets than called him back up for June 24th in the hopes that maybe he found his swing and that he would not prove to be a Quad-A guy.
After his recall, D'Arnaud showed himself to be ready to put his previous struggles behind him as he would go 9/30 with 1 home run and 4 RBI. That little stretch of hitting boosted up D'arnaud's average from .180 to a still horrid .203. Still D'Arnaud has looked much better and more comfortable at the dish to the point where he is back in play as a catcher 2 in fantasy baseball terms. While it is easy to see how disappointing D'Arnaud has been overall, he is still very young and capable of being the next post-hype sleeper who made good.