A young Francisco Álvarez knew he needed to work on his receiving and framing skills before he got to the big leagues, and as Mets fans saw last year, he did just that as one of the best framers (ranked 4th with 9 catcher framing runs) in the majors.

The biggest struggle (-3 CS above average) as a catcher last year for Álvarez was throwing out runners trying to steal. And while a large part of that had to do with the new pickup/disengagement limits, Álvarez knew he needed to improve on his end in terms of more accurate throws and getting the ball to second/third base sooner.

He’s certainly done that this spring. The 22-year-old catcher leads MLB with eight runners caught stealing this spring in 12 attempts.

On Monday night, he threw out his eighth-runner with a pop time of 1.9 and at 85.8 mph, a bit better than his average of 1.94 and 84.0 mph last year.

Álvarez continued his strong spring at the plate, going 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI double. He leads the team with seven RBIs, second with three home runs, and his .914 OPS is second among players with at least 20 plate appearances.

The young catcher appears ready to have an even better season in 2024.