New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez to undergo surgery in massive blow

Per Mendoza, Alvarez suffered the fracture on Saturday during live at-bats. He felt something in his hand after his second at-bat and was sent for X-Rays by the Mets team trainer which showed the injury. Alvarez is scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday.

This is a crucial blow for Alvarez, the Mets' lineup and their pitching staff. The third-year catcher has a big power bat, but he also commands a staff well and is a stronger pitch framer.. With Alvarez out, Luis Torrens will likely move up to the starting catcher role. The Mets will need to place another catcher on the 40-man roster to backup Torrens whether that is an internal or external choice. Mendoza did mention that president of baseball operations David Stearns could be looking for outside help at catcher.

Alvarez's injury is even more disheartening for the 23-year-old catcher given he missed around seven weeks last season after tearing the UCL in his thumb, which required surgery. Although Alvarez was able to return in June, he never found his power stroke the rest of the way, and hit only 11 home runs with a .710 OPS in 100 total games.

Alvarez crushed 25 homers and posted a .721 OPS as a 21-year-old rookie in 2023. That said, the young backstop struggled immensely in the second half of his first campaign.

Last year, Alvarez got off to a hot start, but was derailed by the thumb injury. The Mets will be hoping that Alvarez makes a full recovery from his hand surgery and can rejoin the team without missing a beat on offense or behind the plate.