A tough injury blow occurred in New York Mets spring training, as starting catcher Francisco Alvarez will not be with the team on Opening Day and then some.
Manager Carlos Mendoza revealed to reporters on Sunday that the 23-year-old catcher will undergo surgery to repair a broken left hamate bone (hand), which will force him to miss six to eight weeks.
Alvarez, once the team’s top prospect in the minors, is someone with high expectations heading into the 2025 season, but it isn’t starting the way he and the organization would like.
“It’s always tough when one of your guys goes down like that,” Mendoza said about Alvarez. “But again, you’ve got to keep going. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. Everybody deals with injuries. We’ll get him back.”
Mendoza added the surgery, which was required after injuring the hamate bone during live at-bats on Saturday, will occur on Monday.
The hamate bone is an interesting injury for baseball players because it can cause a dip in power at the plate, something that Alvarez is gifted with. The Mets wanted to see more than 11 homers from him in 2024 after mashing 25 in 2023, but he’s proven he can send it a long way when he barrels it up.
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Whether this injury will diminish that power remains to be seen.
Alvarez is also a very good defensive catcher, possessing a rocket for an arm and good framing skills. Obviously, the left hand being his catching hand, strong rehab will be needed to make sure he can sustain high velocities coming in with each pitch.
In the meantime, Mendoza and the Mets will have to lean on Alvarez’s backup, Luis Torrens, a veteran considered a defense-first man behind the dish.
Torrens was with the Mets in 2024 after being traded from the Seattle Mariners to Queens. He hit .229/.292/.373 with a .665 OPS with just three homers and 15 RBI over 47 games.
This isn’t the first big blow to the Mets’ roster before Opening Day, as starting pitching has taken a hit.
Sean Manaea, whose solid 2024 campaign led to a three-year deal to re-sign with the Mets, strained an oblique and won’t be ready for the beginning of the regular season.
Also, Frankie Montas, a free agent signee expected to provide good depth in the rotation, strained his right lat, and is out six to eight weeks as well. That injury occurred on Feb. 17.
Finally, Nick Madrigal, the utilityman the Mets brought in to provide versatility for Mendoza’s lineups, will miss the entire 2025 season after dislocating and fracturing his left shoulder.
This is certainly not the injury news the Mets wanted to see, but they can certainly weather the storm after doing so in 2024. Their battle in the second half led to a magical postseason berth and run that ended in the NLCS at the hands of the eventual World Series-champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
But New York, of course, won the historic bidding war for Juan Soto’s services this offseason, inking him to a 15-year, $765 million deal, which is an MLB record.
Soto was added to a lineup that consists of star shortstop Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, Mark Viento and Pete Alonso, who eventually re-signed with New York.
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