In CBSSports.com leagues, there are currently 15 catchers who have a higher ownership rate than Travis d'Arnaud's 57 percent. Outside of very deep leagues, D'Arnaud is not serving very many owners as a No. 1 catcher. Based on what he has done over the past seven weeks, that needs to change.
Since coming back from a minor league rehab stint on June 24, d'Arnaud has been the fourth-ranked catcher in standard Rotisserie leagues and fifth in Head-to-Head points leagues. After struggling to hit for power duirng his initial callup late last season and again early this season, d'Arnaud is finally collecting extra-base hits, just like he did in the upper minors.
There should be little doubt that d'Arnaud has taken his game up a notch. All six home runs he has hit since returning to the Mets have been categorized by the ESPN Hit Tracker as having "plenty" of distance (one actually fell into the "No Doubt" category). He also has a .270 batting average with 10 doubles over this recent stretch, but with a .287 BABIP, d'Arnaud doesn't appear to be benefitting from good luck on balls in play.
Perhaps most encouraging, the average distance of d'Arnaud's flyballs has increased dramatically since his return. According to BaseballHeatMaps.com, in d'Arnaud's first 39 games this year, he averaged 264 feet in flyball distance, but over his 37 games since, that mark has jumped to 287 feet.
As I noted in a recent blog post, d'Arnaud's surge in productivity hasn't done much for his Fantasy popularity in recent weeks, while other catchers with more limited upside, like Caleb Joseph and J.P. Arencibia have been getting picked up in droves. Not only is d'Arnaud a better mixed league pickup than either of these two backstops, but he is likely to be more productive going forward than Brian McCann or Kurt Suzuki, both of whom are far more widely owned.
If you're disappointed with the production of your catcher in a one-catcher league, it's time to give d'Arnaud a try. Chances are good that he will be there for the taking on your league's waiver wire.