5 Philadelphia Phillies prospects we wish were never traded
By Matt Rappa
2. Travis d’Arnaud, Catcher
In December 2009, the Phillies acquired Roy Halladay from the Toronto Blue Jays, and catcher Travis d’Arnaud was one of three prospects sent to the American League East organization.
The impact Halladay had, no doubt, would make this trade worth re-doing one thousand times over again. However, including d’Arnaud in the deal likely would not make or break the blockbuster from taking place. Starting pitcher Kyle Drabek and outfielder Michael Taylor caught the Toronto general manager’s eye the most.
Travis d'Arnaud hit 69 homers in 515 Minor League games between the Phillies, Blue Jays and Mets. He just mashed his first in the Majors.
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) August 25, 2013
Now 32, d’Arnaud has nine Major League seasons under his belt, including seven with the New York Mets, two with the Atlanta Braves, and parts of one season each with the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers. As a Brave, d’Arnaud won Silver Slugger honors in 2020 — slashing .321/.386/.533 in 44 games.
He also recently helped the Phillies’ division rivals to their first championship of the century, slashing .292/.292/.583 with a pair of solo home runs in the World Series against the Houston Astros.
Beloved 2008 World Series champion Carlos Ruiz was still a Phillie through August 2016, meaning d’Arnaud would have been a backup had he never been traded to the Blue Jays. The Phillies eventually transitioned to Jorge Alfaro being their primary catcher, until acquiring J.T. Realmuto from the Miami Marlins.
The Phillies have been fortunate to have their catcher position largely figured out for quite some time. You just have to wonder how the history books would have been rewritten if d’Arnaud donned red pinstripes instead.