Mets Make Tough Decision on Catching Situation

Changes have been made.

The New York Mets have designated catcher Tomas Nido for assignment and activated Omar Narvaez from the injured list.

The decision to DFA Nido came in the wake of the emergence of top prospect Francisco Alvarez. 

Since being called up from Triple-A Syracuse, Alvarez has been one of the best hitting catchers in all of baseball. He has also been excellent defensively behind the plate, ranking fourth in MLB with three catcher framing runs and a 49.6-percent strike rate, per Baseball Savant.

At the end of the day, Alvarez was the only catcher, who had options with Narvaez coming back, but he performed too well to jettison from the roster. 

The Mets will now go with Alvarez and Narvaez as the catching tandem at the big-league level. New York signed Narvaez to a one-year, $8 million deal with a $7 million player option in the offseason. 

As for Nido, Mike Puma of The New York Post reported that the Mets intend on working out a trade that involves the veteran catcher.

The Mets signed Nido to a two-year contract extension in the offseason. But his time in Queens is now about to come to an end with Narvaez back. 

Nido is known for his defensive skills, but contributed very little offensively, slashing .125/.153/.125 with a .278 OPS in 22 games this season. 

As for Alvarez, he is hitting .237/.291/.492 with a .783 OPS, eight home runs and 19 RBIs across 38 games this year. 

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