Francisco Alvarez Thriving in Triple-A

After being demoted to Triple-A on June 22, Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez has thrived in Syracuse and remains upbeat.

“My confidence is not low right now, but I am not going to tell you that it’s very high, too,” Alvarez said via The Athletic’s Will Sammon. “My confidence is always there. It’s a part of my game, and it’s a part of my mindset. So, for me, it is always there, but it’s not 100 percent. But we can say it is at 90 percent right now.”

Following a rough start to the season at the plate in the big leagues, slashing .236/.319/.332, the Mets elected to send Alvarez down to Triple-A to make some adjustments, where he remains over two weeks later.

Despite heading down to Syracuse, the work ethic remains the same for the catcher.

“Baseball never stops,” said Alvarez. “If I stop and think about why I am down here and start to feel angry or sad or frustrated, I’m losing time. And I don’t have that much time to lose. I don’t have time to think about all of that. I just have to keep working, keep doing my thing, and that’s it.”

Since his demotion, Alvarez has reestablished himself at the plate, batting .256/.326/.590 while blasting four home runs in 11 games.

“The day he got here, he was ready to work and committed to being better,” said Syracuse bench coach and Alvarez confidant J.P. Arencibia, who described his attitude as “unbelievable,” per Mike Puma of The New York Post.

Initially earning his shot in the big leagues during the 2023 season, primarily due to his offensive firepower, the Venezuela native has been experimenting with batting stances in Syracuse that he used during the 2023 season.

“I’ve been working on putting both together,” said Alvarez. “I feel more powerful.”

Defensively, Alvarez, once considered one of the game’s premier pitch framers, took a clear step back in 2024 at the big league level, ranking fourth worst in strike rate on borderline pitches among 57 qualified catchers before his demotion and subsequent adjustments.

Despite his struggles as a framer to open the season in the MLB, Arencibia, Syracuse’s bench coach, believes his framing has been refined throughout his two-plus weeks in Triple-A.

“He’s in the 100th percentile in Triple-A [in framing] in the 10 [games] that he’s been here,” said Arencibia.

With his swing potentially rediscovered and his framing refined, Alvarez is positioning himself to return and contribute at a high level in the big leagues. If Alvarez says in the minors through Saturday, he will not become a free agent until after the 2029 season, a year later than anticipated.

 

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