3:07pm: Alvarez will indeed undergo surgery, manager Carlos Mendoza announced to the Mets beat (link via ESPN’s Jorge Castillo). There won’t be a formal timetable until the procedure is performed. Mendoza is hopeful Alvarez will return in six to eight weeks, but they’ll have more info after his operation.
2:08pm: The Mets announced Wednesday that catcher Francisco Alvarez has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a torn meniscus in his right knee. Fellow catcher Hayden Senger has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse in a corresponding move. He’ll split time behind the dish with Luis Torrens while Alvarez is out.
Alvarez exited yesterday’s game due to knee discomfort and underwent an MRI today, which revealed the tear. The Mets’ announcement indicated only that a “timeline for return to play will be provided when possible.” Given the nature of the injury, Alvarez will be sidelined a good bit longer than 10 days. Meniscus tears almost always require surgery, though the timetable for return depends on the extent of the tearing.
It’s yet another blow for the Mets in a season where virtually nothing has gone their way. New York’s 16-25 record is the fourth-worst mark in Major League Baseball. Alvarez joins Jorge Polanco, Francisco Lindor, Luis Robert Jr., Ronny Mauricio, Jared Young, Kodai Senga and A.J. Minter on the injured list. Lindor, Polanco, Alvarez and Robert were all expected to be key pieces in a reshaped Mets lineup that has looked downright anemic this season — in no small part due to that litany of injuries.
The 24-year-old Alvarez had gotten out to a nice start in what’s already his fifth season with some time logged at the MLB level. He’s hitting .241/.317/.393 — about 5% better than league average, by measure of wRC+ (and about 14% better than the average catcher). During a swing in the sixth inning of yesterday’s game, however, Alvarez grimaced and walked out of the batter’s box, repeatedly flexing his knee (video link). After meeting with a trainer, he departed in the middle of the at-bat.
Once one of the top prospects in baseball, Alvarez has shown flashes of potential to break out as one of the game’s top backstops. He belted 25 homers back in 2023 but did so with a sub-.300 OBP and only a .209 average. In 2025, he slashed .256/.339/.447 but was limited to just 277 plate appearances because of injury. Health has been a frequent issue for the talented young catcher. Beyond this new meniscus tear, he’s also suffered ligament tears in both thumbs and a broken hamate in his his left hand.
Losing Alvarez means turning catching duties over to a pair of light hitters who are better served as backups. The 30-year-old Torrens is a strong defender but just a .226/.287/.351 hitter in his career. He’s batting .208/.255/.292 this season. The Mets somewhat surprisingly inked him to a two-year, $11.5MM extension last month. Senger has only 78 big league plate appearances but has mustered just a .181/.221/.194 slash in that time. His minor league work doesn’t inspire much more confidence. In parts of four Triple-A seasons, he’s a .231/.289/.339 hitter with a 26.9% strikeout rate.
