PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- In July, Mike Piazza will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. On Sunday, he will arrive to Mets camp to serve as a guest instructor for a few days.
And there may be no player more excited than catcher Travis d'Arnaud, who worked with Piazza when he was here two years ago.
"It's a dream," d'Arnaud said Saturday. "I worked with him a couple years ago, and I felt like I was floating on cloud nine."
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When it was announced that Piazza was voted into the Hall of Fame this past January, d'Arnaud said he was jumping up and down like a 5-year-old kid. Piazza will enter the Hall of Fame as a Met and have his number retired by the organization this summer, and he has already made a huge impact on the club's current catcher, who recalled the lessons he took from Piazza the last time he visited.
"Go out there and stay loose and have fun," d'Arnaud remembered Piazza telling him. "Because you play best when you're loose, not when you're tight."