PHILADELPHIA — Francisco Alvarez was as soon as billed as the following Mike Piazza, a power-hitting catcher who might do all of it on the dish and behind it. However in his third main league season, his growth appears to have plateaued.
In a considerably stunning transfer, the Mets despatched Alvarez again to the minor leagues Sunday, optioning him to Triple-A Syracuse and calling up catcher Hayden Senger to take his spot. After a number of weeks of catching errors and inconsistent offensive outcomes, the Mets felt it greatest to provide the 23-year-old Venezuelan an opportunity to regain his footing with Triple-A pitching and get some instruction in a extra managed ambiance.
“Not an easy decision,” supervisor Carlos Mendoza mentioned Sunday at Residents Financial institution Park forward of the collection finale towards the Philadelphia Phillies. “Something that we don’t take lightly when we’re making these decisions. We had extensive conversations, but in the end we decided that it was best for him to go down to Triple-A to play every day.”
The timing of the choice appeared curious to followers on condition that Alvarez went 2-for-5 with a house run in Saturday’s win. Nevertheless, it was one recreation, and the homer got here within the ninth inning when the Mets had been already effectively forward of the Phillies. In 11 video games this month, he’s hit .238 with a .709 OPS. For the season, he’s hitting .223 with a .652 OPS.
Whereas the numbers themselves aren’t precisely dismal, it’s not what the Mets anticipate from Alvarez. There was some apparent regression in some areas.
“There’s a lot of potential there and when he’s playing up to his potential, he’s got a chance to be a pretty special player,” Mendoza mentioned. “We’re going to need him and we expect him to be back. But right now, we feel like it’s best for him to go down there and get reps.”
After hitting 25 house runs as a rookie in 2023, Alvarez has struggled to repeat that feat. The backstop has by no means been a high-average hitter, however he’s at all times been capable of hit the ball onerous and crush left-handed pitching, however he hasn’t performed that this 12 months (.160 towards left-handers).
“I felt like there were a couple of games where it was like, ‘OK, that’s what he’s supposed to look like,’” Mendoza mentioned. “But then he’d go a couple of games where he’s late with the fastball, and then he chases. So just looking for consistency here. Even though we gave him a chance here, if you’re playing 3-4 games a week compared to having an opportunity to go play six, that’s how you’re going to get better.”
Final winter, Alvarez moved his offseason coaching from Miami to Atlanta, opting to go to the identical facility as former Mets DH J.D. Martinez. At Maven Baseball Lab, Alvarez utterly overhauled his swing, altering “everything.” The objective was to create a swing that may permit for extra repeatable movement. He sought to enhance his mechanics and his timing, attempting to handle a foul behavior of transferring his weight to his entrance leg too quickly in his swing.
Nevertheless, a brand new swing takes time to develop and repetition to grasp. The Mets had deliberate to provide him loads of reps in spring coaching video games, however he broke his hamate bone in March, which required surgical procedure and rehab. It left him with out the at-bats wanted to implement these offseason swing changes.
“Not trying to make excuses for the kid, but he’s something that we also talked about,” Mendoza mentioned.
To be clear, the Mets wished him to work on particular mechanical points over the offseason. They put collectively a plan for him that he took to Maven. It was the timing of the damage that was detrimental. Whereas he was on the injured record, Luis Torrens emerged as a stronger catcher on either side of the plate, and Senger was spectacular defensively. Torrens didn’t carry out as effectively offensively splitting time with Alvarez, however his anticipated numbers stay up this season.
“In reality, Louie continues to earn playing time,” Mendoza mentioned. “So we’re getting to a point where it’s like 50-50 [playing time split]. Is that what’s best for Alvy? Probably not at this time.”
Alvarez improved his pop instances and transfers this season, fixing an issue that has plagued him since he was within the minor leagues. However his framing and blocking haven’t been as sturdy this season. The Mets know they’ll name up Senger with out shedding something defensively.
