ATLANTA — One night after Francisco Alvarez took much of the blame for the Mets’ 10-inning loss to the Atlanta Braves, the backstop was out of the lineup, replaced by Luis Torrens. However, this isn’t exactly a surprising decision. The Mets boast two very good catchers who can hit, block, frame and manage a pitching staff.
“I’ve been saying it, they both want to play,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Wednesday at Truist Park. “Alvie will play, Louie will play, and we just thought today was a good day for Louie to be in the lineup.”
However, it’s no secret that Alvarez hasn’t necessarily produced as expected this season. Now in his third major league season, he changed his swing and was injured in spring training, then when he returned, he didn’t post the gaudy numbers the Mets once predicted he would post back when he was a highly-rated prospect.
A pitcher’s mom even went so far as to say her son pitches better when Torrens catches him in a social media post.
After two decisions he made in Tuesday night’s loss failed to pay off, fans took to social media to suggest demoting him to Triple-A. It didn’t help that he went 0-for-3 with a walk. It’s easy to sit back and play armchair general manager from home, but the Mets are the ones doing the difficult work trying to further develop their players at the big-league level.
Alvarez is still only 23, but since this is his third year in the big leagues, there is an expectation that he would be sort of, well developed, by now. It’s fair to question his development, but the learning never really stops.
That’s what the Mets hope he takes from the loss Tuesday.
“That’s Alvy, he’s going to take responsibility when situations like that happen,” Mendoza said. “But I thought Reed Garrett took responsibility too. At the end of the day, we didn’t execute, so you turn the page and you learn from it. That’s the thing. You keep having these conversations, our pitching coaches will have those conversations, and then, like I said, we learn from it and move on.”
Alvarez and Garrett disagreed on a pitch to Marcell Ozuna in the eighth-inning, with the bases loaded and the slugger on a 2-2 count. Garrett wanted to throw a fastball; Alvarez called for a splitter, seeing how Ozuna swung at the one right before that.
Ozuna lined the splitter to left field to clear the bases. The Mets blew a three-run lead and went on to lose in 10 innings.
“I don’t think it’s the wrong pitch; I don’t think it’s the right pitch,” Garrett said. “We have plenty of other options. I just think that if it was executed just down a little bit more, it could have been a ground ball, or we could have been a little bit luckier, because he got it off the barrel and did a good job keeping it fair. It’s a good hitter.”
Garrett trusted Alvarez because the catcher has given him no reason to not trust him. Pitchers like throwing to him, and generally have since he was a rookie. The Mets pitching staff fought for him to stay in the big leagues in 2023 when it looked as though he would have to go back to Triple-A in a roster crunch.
Alvarez apologized to Garrett after the inning, but Garrett had his catcher’s back.
“I think Alvy has done a great job calling pitches, and I think that he’s a great catcher, and I think that’s kind of the ownership that I need to take with calling my own pitches,” Garrett said. “I kind of stepped off [the mound] and made a different call. But like I said, I don’t think it’s the wrong pitch. I mean, he called a great game with [left-handed starter David Peterson]. My pitchcom wasn’t working earlier in that at-bat and he was calling great pitches there…
“We’re on the same page, but I just felt like I could have just maybe executed a little bit [better]. That’s the bottom line.”
Alvarez’s defensive metrics have been mostly good, though his framing numbers have gone down this season. However, he’s been fantastic when it comes to throwing out runners, with one of the best pop times in baseball.
At the plate, it’s been a mixed bag. He’s still hitting the ball hard and he’s drawing more walks than in seasons past, but he’s struggled to find the right timing with the fastball, hitting just .235 with a .313 slugging percentage and a .636 OPS. According to Statcast, he’s expected to slug .365 this season.
Alvarez doesn’t necessarily need to be a power-hitter as a catcher. The potential seemed to be there after he hit 25 homers as a rookie, and the strength is certainly there, but if he becomes a well-rounded, solid-hitting catcher, it will be a win.
If not, the Mets will be faced with more questions about their handling of a player they long ago deemed a star.
“I do know he’s working and it hasn’t been easy for him,” Mendoza said. “But the one thing with Alvy, he’s very positive. He’ll continually grind through it.”
