On Friday night, the Mets beat the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers, but at what cost? The Mets 22 year old catcher, Francisco Alvarez was placed on the Injured Listed after spraining his thumb while scrambling on the base paths. Hopefully Alvarez doesn’t have to spend a lot of time on the IL, but if he does, what options do the Mets have to fill in his shoes?

The first option that the Mets have is to move everyone up a spot, which means that Omar Narvaez would move into the top catching spot. In his limited time this season (23 at bats) Narvaez has posted a .217/.280/.261 slash line with a double and 3 RBIs, while striking out 3 times and walking twice. Over his 8 year career, Narvaez has been consistent posting a slash line of .254/.338/.378, but this isn’t what the Mets want as their top catcher, hence why he is in the backup roll.

The Mets have called up the starting catcher from their Triple-A affiliate the Syracuse Mets, Tomas Nido. Nido has amassed 274 games played at the Major League level, but most recently, he has been the starting catcher in Syracuse. In 9 games for the Syracuse Mets this season, Nido has produced a slash line of .345/.345/.517 while hitting a home run, and driving in two runs.

With Nido being called up, the Syracuse Mets currently have two catchers on their active roster, Austin Allen, and Joe Hudson. Allen hasn’t played a Major League game since 2022 when he played in 5 games for the Oakland Athletics, and Joe Hudson hasn’t played in a Major League game since 2020 when he played in 9 games for the Seattle Mariners. So to say that their isn’t a lot of promise, at least at the Triple-A Level is a bit of an understatement.

So if Alvarez is out for an extended period of time, do the Mets need to look to make a trade for a starting catcher? Maybe, but there is one more option. The 11th overall in the 2022 draft, Kevin Parada is currently making his way through the Mets Minor League System. The 22 year old has started his season in Double-A, Binghamton, after progressing through three levels of the Minor Leagues last season.

In 10 games for the Rumble Ponies this season, the Mets number 9 overall prospect has struggled a bit, posting a slash line of .167/.381/.267 with 13 strikeouts and 9 walks. Last season, in 14 games in Double-A, Parada put up similar numbers with a slash line of .185/.250/.389 with 23 strikeouts and 4 walks. It has been said that Double-A is the most difficult level of the Minor Leagues, but Parada still needs some time to adjust to the pace of the higher level.

As of right now, Parada is most likely a season (or two) away from making an impact in the Major Leagues. Only time will tell if the injury sustained by Alvarez will be a long time issue, but for the time being, I think the Mets will be just fine with Narvaez and Nido behind the plate, until Alvarez is healthy.

By Brian Handzel

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