Carrillo Catching On For Mets

NEW YORK—Xorge Carrillo roomed with Jacob deGrom as teammates with Double-A Binghamton. Carrillo also caught Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz with the Eastern League club. And while Carrillo may be blocked from joining them at the major league level right now by Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki, Carrillo did have a breakout year power-wise in 2015 and is knocking on the door of a major league career.

In his first full season as a starting catcher, Carrillo hit .240/.318/.382 with 10 homers and 40 RBIs in 325 at-bats last year. After being drafted in the 14th round in 2011 out of Arizona State, Carrillo had produced only five total homers in his first four pro seasons.

Still, Carrillo added: “I don’t think the .240 is really me. I think that I could do better than that. But it was my first year catching every day. I went through some downs.”

Carrillo followed up his solid season with the B-Mets by again catching with Mexicali in his native Mexico this winter. Carrillo moved to Phoenix at age 15 with his family.

He is particularly known for his catching skills. He threw out 30 of 90 would-be base stealers in 2015 with Binghamton.

“I really take pride in calling the game, handling the staff, each starter, each bullpen guy,” Carrillo said. “I like to have a goal—everybody has a below-3.00 ERA with my starters and a below-4.00 ERA with my relievers. That’s what I like to go by. I feel really proud about blocking, throwing guys out. The defense, all around, I think is my best attribute.”

Carrillo has received an invite to major league camp for spring training for the second straight year. He said he received sound advice from Curtis Granderson in camp in 2015.

“I was having trouble just because I’m not a big home run guy in BP,” Carrillo said. “It just doesn’t happen to me. I talked to Curtis, and Curtis was the same way. So he gave me some advice. He said, ‘Don’t worry about that, because they don’t count in BP.’ ”

METAMORPHOSES

• Outfielder Brandon Nimmo, a 2011 first-round pick, suffered a partial tear to a tendon in his left foot and was fitted with a walking boot in late January.

• The return of Yoenis Cespedes cost outfield prospect Darrell Ceciliani his 40-man roster spot. The Mets sold him to Toronto subsequent to designating him for assignment.