Former first-round pick Travis d'Arnaud is tearing up the Pacific Coast League, with a .346 average 15 homers and a 1.014 OPS at Class AAA Las Vegas.
Most major league organizations do their best to stockpile depth at catcher, but rarely does a team have a problem with too many good catchers.
The Toronto Blue Jays, however, may end up with that predicament if 23-year-old Travis d'Arnaud continues his rapid development.
A first round pick of the Phillies out of high school in 2007, the Southern California native was making his way up the organizational ladder when he became part of the big Roy Halladay swap of 2010.
With a full time gig at Class-AA New Hampshire in 2011, d'Arnaud posted breakthrough totals of .311-21-78 over 114 games, which fostered a move up one more rung to Las Vegas for 2012. There, his production has been no less impressive, with .332-13-41 totals over just 226 at-bats.
Though d'Arnaud does still need a little work on his plate discipline (139 walks to 345 K's), the bigger issue is what to do with good young catcher J.P. Arencibia, who at age 26 has hit 47 homers since the start of last season.
It's not a bad problem to have.
