Francisco Álvarez Has Earned the Mets Starting Catching Job

Francisco Álvarez was the number-one prospect in all of baseball for a reason.

The 21-year-old with 70-grade raw power is showing what he’s capable of as he settles into life as a major-league Met.

Álvarez has played 28 games for the Mets this season. His first 12 were abysmal. He batted .194/.216/.278 while striking out in 35% of his at-bats. By all means, if the Mets had a healthy catching tandem, Alvarez would be back on his way to Syracuse.

But now it’s May. Álvarez has played 15 games during the month and turned his season trajectory around. Over those 15 he’s batted .271/.364/.604 with four home runs, four doubles, and nine runs batted in. Additionally, he’s cut down the strikeouts to 18.2% and raised his walk rate to 10.9%. Using wRC+ he’s been 66% better than the average major leaguer at the plate during the month. He’s solidified his job as the Mets starting catcher for the rest of the season.

The truth is the Mets are winning with Álvarez, not in spite of Álvarez.

During the Mets five-game win streak, Álvarez has caught three of them going 4-for-12 with two home runs, five RBIs, and three tuns scored. His home run against Tampa Bay on Wednesday tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. The Mets would win an inning later. Then on Friday, Álvarez homered in the fifth to start a climb from a five-run deficit to Cleveland. Later in the game he would single – again with two outs – to tie the game at 9-9 in the 10th inning. Two batters later he’d cross the plate as the winning run.

How good has Álvarez been over his 90 at-bats or possibly how bad have Mets catchers been to record at least 90 at-bats in a season?

His 114 wRC+ ranks SIXTH for the Mets since 2000. The top five are 2004 Mike Piazza, 2002 Piazza, 2015 Travis d’Arnaud, 2007 Ramon Castro, and 2003 Piazza.

Over the last two decades, no one other than Piazza ranked in the top 10 multiple times and he did it four of those seasons.

Now it’s only 92 plate appearances for Álvarez this season and we still have all of June, July, August, September, and October to get through.

But what have the other Mets catchers done this season? Michael Pérez has seven plate appearances, Omar Narváez had 17, Gary Sanchez had four in his debut on Sunday, and the one who filled the gap Tomás Nido had 54 plate appearances. The other three have too small a sample to even criticize but Nido has a wRC+ of -23. NEGATIVE. TWENTY. THREE.

The concern with Álvarez was his defense. That’s why he was left in the minors to start the season, although a terrible spring training showing didn’t help. He’s been more than fine behind the plate. Actually, elite with a 89th framing percentile. In the most subjective matter he passes the eye test. Friday’s game he dealt with a plethora of bounced pitches that he handled with ease. He’s comfortable behind the plate. Maybe the Mets lied and his defense was further along than what was thought or maybe it speaks to the incredible work ethic he’s been praised for his during his young career.

Álvarez and Narvaez should be the tandem behind the plate for the remainder of the season. Besides Narvaez was the one who was most excited to help Alvarez reach the majors.

“I think my experience, I’ve been able to have a good a good relationship with pitching staffs and learning from each other,” Narvaez said during his introductory video call. “And if I can go and help Álvarez be a part of this team also, I’m gonna do it.”

Álvarez has supporters on the pitching staff, too. One veteran pitcher told SNY, “he should stay” when asked about the potential of optioning the youngster. SNY said another source would be “angry” if Álvarez wasn’t part of the battery. “Guys love him. … He cares so much,” another pitcher said.

And if the Mets don’t want to cut ties with Nido after signing him to a two-year deal this offseason there’s always the option of making Álvarez the designated hitter and cutting someone like Daniel Vogelbach. That doesn’t make much sense but you could’ve made the argument for them to carry three catchers out of camp and they could do it now. But Alvarez’s best spot is at the dish. Him, Brett Baty, and Mark Vientos are up, it’s not time to shuffle them back down.