The young catcher spoke in-game to Steve Gelbs about Mets hurlers who have impressed him this spring.
Steve Gelbs had a nice in-game correspondent debut today, with an easygoing but knowledgeable air about him. He did an excellent job drawing out some quotables from the initially reticent Travis d'Arnaud. Oh, there were some other spring debuts today? Let's hear what d'Arnaud had to say about them:
On Harvey:
- "A lot of his fastballs he threw were a lot faster than I’m used to."
- "He looked better this time than the last time I caught him."
On what he said to Syndergaard when he went out to the mound in the middle of a tumultuous fourth inning:
- "Take a deep breath and relax. His stuff is so great, he can get anybody out. He just has to execute pitches."
d'Arnaud was also asked about which young arms (outside of Syndergaard) have impressed him so far this spring:
On Steven Matz:
- "Matz has obviously impressed me...He's got electric stuff…I don't know if I would want to get into the box against him…[His fastball has] a lot of life...It comes out of his hand at 95 and stays at 95."
On Akeel Morris:
- "Akeel Morris has impressed me pretty well. Really good changeup and a really good fastball, and a really good command, and he's...deceptive."
On non-roster invitee Jon Velasquez.
- "I caught him with the Phillies in 2009, and now with the way he's throwing it, it’s like night and day with how much he’s improved. "
The third-year backstop was also asked about his own arm: How was he affected last year by the bone spurs that prompted offseason elbow surgery, and how's the arm doing now?
"It didn't allow me to have full range of motion, which probably made my balls cut a lot because I couldn't extend my arm all the way. But now it feels great, and my throws have been more consistent."
Consistency is really all anyone is looking for—and maybe 15 or 20 home runs, too.