The New York Mets play in a big market, in front of very demanding and passionate fans.
Fans, media, and the organization itself usually do not grant prospects too much time to settle in and work through their struggles.
However, catcher Francisco Alvarez seems to be settling in and is starting to return some really big performances for New York.
He ranks fourth among National League players (not catchers; players!) in Wins Above Replacement in the month of May.
“NL fWAR leaders, May 2023: 1. Freddie Freeman (1.8), 2. Juan Soto (1.6), 3. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (1.5), T-4. FRANCISCO ÁLVAREZ (1.4), T-4. Sean Murphy (1.4),” SNY Mets tweeted.
NL fWAR leaders, May 2023:
1. Freddie Freeman (1.8)
2. Juan Soto (1.6)
3. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (1.5)
T-4. FRANCISCO ÁLVAREZ (1.4)
T-4. Sean Murphy (1.4) pic.twitter.com/6uXvnCOlwm— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) May 30, 2023
Wins Above Replacement, or WAR, is a good way to see how much a player has contributed to his team relative to the replacement-level player.
Usually, four or five WAR in a season is considered star-level performance, and Alvarez accumulated 1.4 in just one month.
That’s excellent, and puts him on a really solid pace for the rest of the year.
For the season, Alvarez is at .269/.327/.558 with eight home runs in just 113 plate appearances.
That gives him a .885 OPS.
The thing is that he is also very good behind the plate, too.
The work he put in on the offseason with fellow Mets catcher and countryman Omar Narvaez seems to be paying off.
The Mets have their catcher of the future, as Alvarez is just 21 years old.
Things haven’t always been easy for New York this year, as they have a 27-27 record.
However, getting Alvarez to produce like a big-league catcher is definitely one of the highlights of their season.
NEXT: The Mets Are Off The Hook For A Former All-Star
