Francisco Álvarez placed on IL with thumb sprain

The Mets will be without their power-hitting catcher for some time.

In what comes as a damper to their recent hot play, the Mets will be without their power-hitting catcher Francisco Álvarez for some time.

After manager Carlos Mendoza expressed his concern late on Friday night after Álvarez injured his thumb while running the bases, New York has officially placed their backstop on the 15-day injured list with what they’re calling a left thumb sprain.

In a corresponding move, the Mets have called up catcher Tomás Nido from Triple-A Syracuse and designated LHP Kolton Ingram for assignment.

While this was not an unexpected result coming out of last evening’s game in Los Angeles, it certainly is unfortunate news for both Álvarez and a Mets team that has been playing their most inspired baseball in quite awhile. While Álvarez’s overall numbers are nothing to go crazy over – he has still shown a prevalence for massively hot and cold streaks at the plate – his presence in the lineup will be sorely missed.

There are very few catchers that provide the sort of power threat that Álvarez has over the last year-plus, as New York’s backstop ranks 5th in home runs (26) since the start of 2023 among all players whose primary position is catcher. That’s no small feat for a player who was a rookie last season and is still only 22 years old.

Until J.D. Martínez finally joins the big league club from the minor leagues, something that is expected to happen around the start of their next home stand, the Mets will certainly be missing that power piece from their lineup. It will also result in increased playing time for Omar Narváez who has had some solid offensive numbers in the past (though not in recent years) and has been a train wreck on defense in a small sample size this year. In just 59 innings this season, Narváez is tied for the 4th worst catcher in all of baseball with -3 defensive runs saved. The four players that are tied with or worse than Narváez – Luis Campusano, Will Smith, Henry Davis and Martín Maldonado — have all played at least 100 innings this year.

While he won’t be getting the majority of the playing time, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Nido out there at least twice a week just for his defense alone. Mets fans are no strangers to Nido’s skills as well as his shortcomings as the catcher is the second longest tenured Mets player after Brandon Nimmo, making his major league debut way back in 2017.

Nido is known for being reliable on defense behind the plate, an above-average pitch framer, and having a decent ability to throw out runners on the base paths. Where Nido has always struggled, however, is on offense where anything you ever get out of him should be considered a bonus at this point. Over seven seasons in the major leagues, Nido is a career .213/.249/.308 hitter with 13 home runs, 74 RBI and a 55 OPS+ over 274 games played.

As of this time there is not timetable for Álvarez’s return.