Paul Articulates – Catch him if you can?

The New York Mets have spent years searching for a solution to the catcher position on their team.  You probably remember the list of unsuccessful backstop attempts from the last decade.  But in case you have tried to permanently erase that bad memory from your mind, here it comes rushing back again:

2014:  Travis d’Arnaud became the primary catcher after the departure of John Buck.  He was backed up by Juan Centeno and Taylor Teagarden.  There was great enthusiasm about d’Arnaud who came over in the trade for R.A.Dickey that also brought a pitcher named Thor.  Thor brought a bigger hammer as d’Arnaud finished the season batting .242 with a .718 OPS.

2015: This was year two and probably the best of the d’Arnaud era, backed up by steady Kevin Plawecki and future SNY talking head Anthony Recker.  Travis hit  a very respectable .268 with a .825 OPS as the Mets made it to the World Series.

2016: Travis d’Arnaud was hurt for part of the season, and the trio of d’Arnaud, Plawecki, and Rene Rivera split the catching duty pretty evenly.  No playoffs this time.

2017: d’Arnaud was back to health, catching 112 games, but his defensive confidence continued to fade.  He hit .248 and his backups Plawecki and Rivera were not too much better.  Newcomer Tomas Nido played a few games and seemed to hit well.

2018: Travis d’Arnaud injured his UCL in April and caught 4 games this season.  Devin Mesoraco, Kevin Plawecki, Tomas Nido, and Jose Lobaton hit a combined .202 in 574 at-bats.

2019: The d’Arnaud era ended in April as Travis was DFA’ed.  Wilson Ramos was picked up before the season as a free agent in a 2-year, $19M deal as the primary catcher.  He brought the offense as promised, slashing .288/.351/.416 but also recorded a negative 13 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS).  

2020: Wilson (The Buffalo) Ramos started the year again as the primary catcher, but his hitting prowess was much diminished from the prior year, and defense was not much improved.  In the shortened season, Ramos started 45 games, batted .237, and did not have his contract renewed.

2021: The Mets brought in James McCann on another free agent deal.  Faced with the choice between paying big money to Realmuto or a more reasonable salary for a younger McCann, the Mets opted for the latter.  Over 2 years the “bargain” $40M deal was worth a .220 batting average and six weeks on the injured list with a fractured hamate bone.

2022: It was McCann again, followed by Nido, Mazeika, Perez, and finally (FINALLY!) Francisco Alvarez.

2023: Despite all the impressive performance in the minors where he mastered every level, Francisco Alvarez started the season in AAA as the Mets bought the services of Omar Narvaez to start the season and give Alvarez more reps in the minors.  Narvaez, who may be a distant relative to Wally Pipp, lasted all the way until April 7th when he went on the IL with a leg injury.  Alvarez came up, hit 20 home runs by the end of July, and Narvaez became a highly compensated backup catcher.

I’m sorry to drag you through all that painful history, but there was a point.  There is currently a boiling social media debate about the playing time given to the Mets’ top prospect turned MLB starting catcher Francisco Alvarez.  In the month of September, Alvarez and Narvaez have shared plate duty, often  rotating one day on, one day off.  

Some are exasperated that Buck would not play Alvarez every day, especially with very few games remaining.  Sure, he slumped after his hot mid-season, but this is the “catcher of the future” for the team.  Others argue that this is the right approach to save the wear-and-tear on the young catcher’s body.  He has caught 122 regular season games already, the most in his career.

Where do I stand on this debate?  I believe the Mets are doing the right thing.  Look at the history above – Travis d’Arnaud spent quite a bit of his Mets career nursing injuries.  So did McCann.  It is no secret that the catcher position is one of the most physically trying of any due to the foul balls, bat over-swings, and 150 squats per game.  Young players are more resilient and heal faster, but the wear on the body, particularly the knees accumulates over time.  

With this season all over but the shouting, and Alvarez already recording 118 MLB games in 2023, his “learn-by-doing” time has been spent.  A few more games in September will not delay his maturity for future seasons.  Save him for bigger, better, more important games in future seasons.

[special note – after this article was written, Alvarez was removed from the Mets-Phillies game after taking successive foul balls in the left hand area.]