11:09PM: Alvarez suffered the harm whereas taking a swing throughout reside batting observe yesterday, Mendoza informed the New York Submit’s Mike Puma and different reporters. Mendoza expects Alvarez to overlook the complete eight weeks because of the added wear-and-tear that catching duties will place on his left hand.
9:52AM: Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez will bear surgical procedure to repair a fractured left hamate bone, supervisor Carlos Mendoza informed reporters (together with Newsday’s Tim Healey). Alvarez will miss the following 6-8 weeks recovering from the process.
It’s an unwelcome improvement for each Alvarez and the Mets, and it marks the second straight season that Alvarez has suffered an early-season harm to his left hand. Final April, Alvarez suffered a torn thumb ligament that required surgical procedure, and he ended up lacking a little bit over seven weeks’ time. He returned in mid-June and hit .237/.311/.411 with 10 dwelling runs in 283 plate appearances over the remainder of the common season, however Alvarez struggled to a .577 OPS over 47 PA within the playoffs.
Thought-about one of many sport’s high prospects throughout his time in New York’s farm system, Alvarez has posted virtually precisely league-average manufacturing with a 99 wRC+ over his 779 profession PA on the Main League stage. These numbers are nonetheless fairly respectable for a catcher that simply turned 23 final November, plus Statcast has given his protection (notably his framing) above-average grades, though his blocking left quite a bit to be desired in 2024.
If Alvarez goes to make the soar from stable common to star in 2025, it’ll now have to attend till at the least the latter half of April. Hamate fractures or breaks are frequent sufficient that the 6-8 week timeline is kind of set in stone for many gamers, although naturally problems can come up when coping with any hand-related harm. Such regular actions as gripping a bat might take a little bit of re-familiarization, and Alvarez’s left hand may even be examined by commonly catching pitches.
With Alvarez sidelined, Luis Torrens now turns into the highest catcher on the Mets’ depth chart. Acquired in a commerce with the Yankees final Could, Torrens hit .229/.292/.373 in 130 PA with the Mets final season, which roughly matches his profession slash line over 937 PA and elements of seven huge league seasons. Torrens did a fantastic job of throwing out baserunners (would-be stealers had been solely 12-for-23 towards him) final yr however isn’t thought of a fantastic defensive catcher total.
Torrens and Alvarez are the one catchers on New York’s 40-man roster, and Jakson Reetz’s eight profession MLB video games make him the one different backstop within the group with any huge league expertise in any respect. It appears exceedingly probably that the Mets will now look to amass one other skilled catcher or two to compete for enjoying time over the rest of Spring Coaching.
These new faces might come within the type of gamers reduce from different groups’ spring camps, or maybe a membership may very well be already be trying to commerce a non-roster invitee catcher if the membership is aware of this participant gained’t be a part of their Opening Day plans. Trying to the free agent market, former Mets catcher James McCann is unsigned and may very well be introduced again as a well-known face. Yasmani Grandal can also be a identified amount to David Stearns, as Grandal performed for the Brewers in 2019 when Stearns was Milwaukee’s president of baseball operations.
Alvarez’s hamate fracture is the most recent in a sequence of accidents to have already hit the Mets this spring. The rotation has been thinned out since Sean Manaea (indirect pressure) and Frankie Montas (lat pressure) will each begin the season on the injured record, and backup infielder Nick Madrigal is anticipated to overlook the complete season after present process shoulder surgical procedure. Whereas Alvarez’s harm is relatively much less severe, the dearth of catching depth makes his absence a trickier roster gap to deal with.
