3 reasons Travis d'Arnaud should be Angels' No. 1 catcher in 2026

The 2025 season has been one to forget for Angels’ catcher Logan O’Hoppe. After a promising beginning to his major league career, O’Hoppe has taken a step back both at the plate and behind it this year. And while the Angels surely want O’Hoppe serving as their primary catcher in 2026, they may be forced to look elsewhere, even at his 2025 running mate behind the dish. 

The stats for Travis d’Arnaud are not impressive this season. While he had some months where his bat was hot, the totality of his season would not cause the common baseball fan to look at him and think of him as a player they’d want starting for their favorite team. However, after some digging, there are three main reasons why d'Arnaud should at least be given the chance to start more regularly in 2026.

3 reasons Travis d'Arnaud should be Angels' No. 1 catcher in 2026

.731 - d’Arnaud’s OPS when he starts

Throughout his career, Travis d'Arnaud has been at his best offensively when he is also behind the plate defensively. When he starts baseball games at catcher his OPS sits at .731 compared to just .588 when he is coming off the bench. While this is common for most players, d'Arnaud has a career's worth of stats to back up the argument that he is inefficient as a pinch hitter while respectable when he starts baseball games (even if he has provided some clutch moments off the bench this season).

2.58 - strikeout-to-walk ratio when d’Arnaud is catching

Much has been made of O'Hoppe's shortcomings on defense, and the stats back up that claim. While nearly every stat shows that the Angels' pitching staff has only been marginally better with d'Arnaud behind the plate, the strikeout and walk numbers seperate him from O'Hoppe. With d'Arnaud's K:B sittig at 2.58, it is nearly 70% better tha O'Hoppe's mark of 1.8.

It is also worth noting that the Angels' two best starters - Yusei Kikuchi and Jose Soriano - have better outings when the veteran is behind the plate guiding them. Soriano's improvement is only marginal, going from a 4.09 ERA with O'Hoppe to 3.98 with d'Arnaud. Kikuchi, however, has posted a 6.91 ERA in starts with O'Hoppe behind the dish while posting an exceptional 3.62 mark with d'Arnaud.

All of this is to say that d'Arnaud brings a stable, veteran presence defensively where he has proven he knows how to work through a start alongside his pitcher.

11.5% - d'Arnaud's barrel rate in 2025

A look at the stats may cause fan to think d'Arnaud has fallen off offensively. However, a look into some advanced metrics show that he is largely the same hitter he has always been. And his barrel rate of 11.5 % is the highest full-season mark of his career, proving that d'Arnau can still swing the bat well. So while some numbers may point to him slowing down offensively, regular playing time may be all d'Arnaud needs to put up another near-All Star season.

The Angels may go outside of the organization for catching help. They very well could just give O'Hoppe another chance to show he can be the future in Anaheim. However, they should give thought to Travis d'Arnaud as their primary back stop next season, because the veteran might just have the juice.

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