NEW YORK (AP) — Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez was reinstated from the 10-day injured list Tuesday before the opener of a three-game series against the Miami Marlins.
Alvarez had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb on April 23. He got injured four days earlier when he slipped while rounding first base against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The 22-year-old Alvarez batted eighth Tuesday night for New York in his return to the lineup. He will continue to wear a splint on his left hand to protect the thumb.
“Very excited,” he said at Citi Field. “Everything feels good. I’m happy to be back.”
Alvarez was hitting .236 with one home run and eight RBIs in 16 games for the Mets, who were 11-8 when he went on the injured list. They went a National League-worst 17-28 without him.
“Energy not only behind the plate, in the locker room, in the dugout — he’s competing every pitch, he’s on the guys all the time,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Good to have him back.”
New York entered Tuesday with the third-worst record in the NL but was just 3 1/2 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the race for the third wild card.
“I’m looking to win,” Alvarez said. “I want to win. I want to play hard and get the W at the end of the day.”
Alvarez went 3 for 19 while playing six rehab games in the Mets’ farm system. He caught a combined nine innings on Friday and Saturday for Triple-A Syracuse before serving as the designated hitter on Sunday. He was behind the plate a week ago with High-A Brooklyn for a combined no-hitter.
As a rookie last season, Alvarez batted .209 with 25 homers, 63 RBIs and a .721 OPS in 123 games.
To open a roster spot for Alvarez, catcher Tomás Nido was designated for assignment. Nido made 25 starts with Alvarez sidelined but ceded playing time in the past 10 days to Luis Torrens, who was acquired from the Yankees for cash on May 31 and is hitting .313 with two homers and four RBIs while helping New York to a 3-2 record in his starts.
Torrens also saved Sunday’s 6-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in London by turning a terrific double play on Nick Castellanos’ nubber in front of the plate. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time a player grounded into a 2-2-3 double play to end a game since 1940, when GIDP became an official statistic in both leagues.
“Nido did a hell of a job when Alvarez went down,” Mendoza said. “But once we got Luis, we needed to see what we had.”
Nido was hitting .229 with three home runs, eight RBIs and a .623 OPS for the Mets this season. He threw out six of 32 runners attempting to steal (19%) but committed five errors in 32 games.
He was drafted by New York in 2012 and was the second-longest tenured player on the team behind Brandon Nimmo. The 30-year-old catcher, who remained with the organization after being designated for assignment last June, thanked the Mets with a heart emoji on the social media platform X.
Added Nido: “12 years, it was a good run! Wishing the guys nothing but the best!”
“It wasn’t an easy (decision), especially with a guy like Nido who’s been in the organization for a long time,” Mendoza said. “Means a lot to this team and a lot of the guys in that room. Nothing but respect for him.”
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This story has been corrected to clarify that Torrens has made five starts for the Mets, not six.
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