Travis d'Arnaud | |||
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d'Arnaud with the New York Mets in 2015
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New York Mets – No. 18 | |||
Catcher | |||
Born: Long Beach, California |
February 10, 1989 |||
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MLB debut | |||
August 17, 2013, for the New York Mets | |||
MLB statistics (through 2016 season) |
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Batting average | .245 | ||
Hits | 239 | ||
Home runs | 30 | ||
Runs batted in | 102 | ||
Teams | |||
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Travis E. d'Arnaud (born February 10, 1989) is an American professional baseball catcher for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2013.
Travis d'Arnaud was born in Long Beach, California, to Marita (Filipino-American), an elementary school teacher, and Lance d'Arnaud, an entrepreneur. His older brother, Chase, is also a professional baseball player for the Atlanta Braves. d'Arnaud also has a younger sister, Lindsey. A fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers growing up, his favorite player was Mike Piazza.
Lance d'Arnaud converted his son to catcher at age 12 because the team that he was coaching had a vacancy at that position. d'Arnaud attended Lakewood High School in Lakewood, California. As a high school ballplayer, d'Arnaud was named Lakewood's co-Athlete of the Year along with Artesia High School basketball player James Harden, a future NBA All-Star.
He had committed to play college baseball for the Pepperdine Waves of Pepperdine University after high school, the same school for which his brother played, but was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the supplemental first round of the 2007 Major League Baseball draft, the 37th overall pick. He chose to void his college commitment and signed a minor league contract for $832,500.
In 2007, d'Arnaud started his professional career with the Philadelphia Phillies' Rookie League affiliate, the Gulf Coast League Phillies. He played 41 games in the GCL and put together a .241 batting average and a .626 OPS. In 2008, d'Arnaud began the season with the Phillies' Class-A Short Season affiliate, the Williamsport Crosscutters of the New York–Penn League. He played 48 games in the NYPL, hitting .309 with an OPS of .833 and was selected for the mid-season All-Star game. From there he was promoted to the Class-A Lakewood BlueClaws.