Francisco Álvarez has Arrived, and He’s Not Going Anywhere
The New York Mets might have a generational star on their hands at the catcher position, and his name is Francisco Álvarez.
Álvarez, 21, was the golden goose of the Mets farm system for the past few seasons. The overall feeling in the system was that Álvarez is the real deal. New York’s prospect rankings reflected that sentiment, as Álvarez was the club’s top-ranked prospect in 2021 and 2022, even making his mark as the league’s No. 1 prospect in 2022. In 2020, Álvarez ranked second in the whole farm system at just 18 years old.
The Mets brought Álvarez up to the big leagues to make his debut in the team’s biggest series of their 2022 regular season. They were facing the Atlanta Braves for the division on the last weekend of the season. Álvarez came away with no hits in that series, and the Mets would be swept to lose the division, in typical fashion. A few days later, he finished his final series of the season with two hits, one of which was a home run.
April 2023
Flash forward to the beginning of 2023. The club started the season with Álvarez in Triple-A, which was expected. However, when offseason acquisition Omar Narváez got injured and Tomás Nido wasn’t playing well, it was time for Álvarez to be called up again.
On April 9 season debut, Álvarez was just another rookie. He struggled at the beginning of the month, boasting a .130 average on April 21. He was struggling with big-league pitching, swinging and missing a lot while looking a little jumpy at the plate. All in all, the month wasn’t kind to him, as Álvarez posted a .194/.216/.278 slash line near the end of April.
May 2023
Once the month of May began, Álvarez began to not only find his confidence but also find what made him the No. 1 prospect in the sport.
The rookie catcher began to take off. Since May 1, Álvarez has a 1.088 OPS, a 193 WRC+ and seven home runs, all of which came when he was slotted in the nine-hole in the batting order. His average is up to .309 in May. Álvarez began to mash baseballs on May 9, when he had two home runs for the first time in a game in his career in Cincinnati.
Álvarez would go on to have his signature moment in a Mets uniform on May 18. The Venezuelan rookie mashed a two-run home run to tie the game against the best team in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays. Álvarez represented the potential final out in the game, as there were two outs in the ninth inning. In fact, Álvarez has that clutch gene. He had a base hit to tie the game against Cleveland, again down to his final strike. Four of his seven home runs in the month have either tied the game or given the Mets the lead. His OPS+ on the season is up to 140.
All this talk of offense, yet without mentioning the fact that Alvarez is a really, really good defender. When it comes to pitch framing, Álvarez ranks amongst the top 85% in the league, according to Baseball Savant.
Factor in the defense and the massive prowess with the bat, and Álvarez has been a superstar in the month of May. A quick look at fWAR has Álvarez ranked eighth in the entire league.
Overall, the Mets have struggled in May, with a 12-16 record in the month so far. That fact has much more to do with the immense struggles of the pitching staff, not the offense.
What’s Next
Narváez will come back. The Mets value Nido. So, now what? Well, you have no choice if you’re Billy Eppler and the Mets, Francisco Álvarez is your starting catcher, no ifs, ands or buts about it. The Mets already exiled one catcher to make room for Nido, when they minced the Gary Sánchez experiment.
Álvarez has arguably been the most productive catcher in MLB since the beginning of May. There’s absolutely no way he will be sent down. SNY’s Andy Martino brought up the idea earlier in the month before being set ablaze by Mets Twitter.
The solution? It’s time for Nido to go. He has been a replacement-level player (and that’s putting it kindly) for the past several years in a Mets uniform. A team who needs a backup catcher would be happy to have him because he’s a wasted roster spot on the Mets. Once Narváez comes back, Nido will be gone.
Then, you have your catching tandem. Narváez as the backup, and Álvarez as the starter with the bulk of the playing time. You can even slot in Álvarez as your DH on days when you want Narvaez as the backstop.
Alvarez’s impact on the Mets can’t be understated. You can peruse the baseball stats world to find any fact about Alvarez’s month with the Mets, and you’ll be blown away. He’s third on the team in home runs. He’s still only 21 years of age.
If it weren’t for Corbin Caroll, I’d say Álvarez was your leader in NL Rookie of the Year candidacy, especially considering that James Outman has begun to cool off.
If Álvarez continues this torrid pace, the Mets will be set up with a young superstar catcher in their grasp for years to come.
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