WASHINGTON — It took 25 games, but the Mets finally have their full lineup healthy and active. Second baseman Jeff McNeil and catcher Francisco Alvarez will return to action Friday night when the Mets start a road series against the Washington Nationals.
Spring training injuries delayed the start of the season for both, with McNeil going down with an oblique strain, and Alvarez needing surgery to repair a broken hamate bone. The two had nearly identical rehab timelines and with the Mets off Thursday, they were both able to be activated off the injured list and slotted into the lineup Friday.
“Getting Jeff and Alvy back helps,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Friday at Nationals Park. “Coming into this year, they were going to be a big part of this team in the lineup. They went down and they went through the rehab process, and now here they are healthy and ready to go. I’m looking forward to watching those guys play.”
With the Mets coming into the four-game NL East series as owners of the best record in baseball, they don’t exactly need much help.
Catcher Luis Torrens is enjoying one of the best starts to his career at the plate, leading the Mets with a .400 average with runners in scoring position. His six doubles nearly matches his total from the entirety of the 2024 season (eight). Mendoza said both catchers will play, with Torrens getting plenty of games.
Alvarez overhauled his swing over the winter, hoping to find consistency in his hitting. He has a habit of rotating his hips early which led to drastic slumps during his first two seasons in the major leagues. While rookies are expected to slump, Alvarez carried the boom-to-bust pattern into his sophomore season in 2024. One month he’ll be the hottest hitter on the planet, the next month he’ll pop everything up.
Having gone down so early in spring training, it’s tough to know just what he’s capable of with the new swing. Alvarez wasn’t able to get in many at-bats and the ones he did get during Grapefruit League play were hindered by his injured hand. Finally, the power-hitting catcher can test the improvements he’s made against big league pitching.
“When I was doing my rehab I was working a lot on my swing to try to feel right,” Alvarez said Friday through a team translator. “When I wasn’t swinging, I was working a lot on my mentality, on what it is that I wanted to do. Right now, I feel really, really good.”
McNeil was in the lineup as the second baseman on Friday, but with Jose Siri injured, the Mets expect him to play some games in center field. The team hasn’t mapped out a plan for how many games or when, but historically, this isn’t how they’ve operated with McNeil to begin with. His positional flexibility allows them to plug him in and play him all over the field and anywhere in the lineup any time it’s needed.
“They told me to be ready for anything,” McNeil said. “I’ll continue to get reps out there and feel more and more comfortable out there and see what happens.”
McNeil has played both corner outfield roles semi-regularly for the Mets, and played center field in college as well. Tyrone Taylor and Siri were platooning at center to start the season, but Taylor has seen the bulk of the games there since Siri fractured his left tibia in Sacramento earlier in the month. Jose Azocar has spent time there as well.
“I pushed for it probably in 2013 when I got drafted,” McNeil said. “I actually really wanted to be in center field, to be that utility guy. It didn’t really happen until a few weeks before I got called up to the big leagues. That’s when they kind of started moving around. But I played center field college, so I enjoy being out there. It’s a lot of fun. I love playing multiple positions and I feel like I can do it pretty well.”
Brett Baty was optioned to Syracuse to make room for McNeil.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Closer Edwin Diaz was assessed after leaving Wednesday’s game in the middle of an outing with cramping in his hips, but everything checked out fine. The Mets expect him to be available this weekend in Washington.
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