The Mets appear to be lacking some catching depth on paper. They’ll now put that to the test in reality with Francisco Alvarez out for the next 6-8 weeks.
Alvarez will join pitchers Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea on the injured list at the start of the season with a fractured hamate bone in left hand. It’s a relatively common injury, especially for catchers, that shows up as weakened grip strength. However, it does require surgery to fix. Alvarez will have a procedure Monday.
The Mets don’t expect to lose the 23-year-old for any longer than two months.
“That’s our expectation, 6-8 weeks back in major league competition,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns told reporters on Saturday. “He’s a catcher and this is his receiving hand, so realistically we’re probably looking towards the longer end of that 6-8 week range. I think that’s probably where we set our expectations. We don’t anticipate this being an extremely lengthy injury.”
The injury occurred over the weekend when Alvarez was taking live at-bats. He overhauled his swing over the winter, working out of a facility in Atlanta for the first time. In 27 plate appearances, Alvarez has hit .227 with no home runs or extra-base hits, and a .597 OPS. He’s drawn five walks and struck out 11 times in Grapefruit League play this year.
Luis Torrens is behind Alvarez on the depth chart, with Jakson Reetz, Chris Williams, Hayden Senger and Kevin Parada behind him. Like Alvarez, Torrens is from Venezuela. While he doesn’t have the same power bat as Alvarez, he’s a solid defensive backstop with excellent pop times and he’s been having a decent spring training at the plate, hitting .300 with two RBI.
However, the depth drops off from there. Reetz has played eight games in the big leagues and spent time with four different organizations before coming to the Mets on a minor league contract in November.
Williams was signed to a minor league deal as well. A standout at Clemson, he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the eighth round in 2018. Now 28, he has yet to get a big-league call-up in six minor league seasons. He’s shown some pop with career minor league OPS of .808 and hit 28 home runs across Double-A and Triple-A in 2022.
Senger and Parada are homegrown, but both of them have struggled to hit as they’ve developed. The Mets carried Senger during the postseason last year on the taxi squad, but didn’t use him. Senger is known for his defense, while Parada was drafted primarily for his bat. Parada has been working in the Mets hitting lab to improve his mechanics at the plate.
The Mets could look to make a trade.
“It’s a big blow when your starting catcher goes down, but guys will step up,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “Guys will get opportunities. We feel good with what we have in-house. I’m pretty sure David and the group will be looking for outside [options] as well, as he always does.”
