Francisco Álvarez’s worth to the New York Mets is so valuable words cannot describe the importance he carries. Alvarez who has appeared in 30 games this season has been electric both with the bat and behind the plate. After tearing his UCL in his left thumb Alvarez was sidelined for 5 weeks, in that time the Mets endured a very weak month of May going 9-19 that left them far below .500. It looked like early signs of the Mets season falling apart but things started to change once Francisco Álvarez came back remarkably quick from injury.

June 11th, Alvarez’s first fame back since April 19th looked to be the vital clog for the Mets lineup again after they went 17-31 without him in the regular lineup. First game back and a loss to the last place Marlins. It looked like all hope was lost for the season and trades were imminent however, after that loss The Mets would only experience 2 more loses in their next 25 games. So far in June the Mets have gone 15-6 and if they sweep the Astros it would be their best month of June ever in franchise history, the other three were 2022, 2000, 2006, ironic that those are the years the Mets clinched the postseason. Sweeping the Yankees in the Subway Series was the pinnacle of the last 25 games of success the Mets have had. And no one else to thank but Francisco Álvarez who has carried this staff to immeasurable levels. Alvarez who currently has the best staff cERA at 2.71 which is a godsend for this pitching staff as the rest of the Mets catchers this season have an average cERA of 4.50.

cERA, analyzes how a catcher’s game-calling and throwing skills impact a pitcher’s performance. cERA essentially looks at a pitcher’s earned run average (ERA) when throwing to different catchers. The idea is that a skilled catcher can influence the game by calling for pitches in better locations and effectively controlling the running game. This can lead to the pitcher having more successful starts, with a higher percentage of pitches hitting the strike zone (down the middle) compared to off-target throws. Overall, cERA provides a deeper understanding of how pitcher performance can vary depending on the catcher behind the plate. Let’s use Jose Quintana and Sean Manaea for example, two pitchers with the most innings pitched this season have executed far better results with Alvarez behind the plate. For Sean Manaea he has 76.1 IP and 3.89 ERA; Alvarez has been the battery mate for 27.2 IP only allowing a 1.63 ERA during that span.
Jose Quintana has 78.2 IP, and 4.58 ERA; However when Alvarez is behind the plate his ERA slices in half at a whopping 2.25 ERA in 28 innings. To reiterate just how valuable Alvarez is to this ball club Manaea has a 5.18 ERA to all other catchers in 49 innings pitched, while Quintana has a 5.86 ERA in 51 innings pitched, so yeah, besides Lindor and his five tool threats Álvarez is clear and away the most valuable Met this season. Without him in the everyday lineup the Mets are bound to choke up on more hiccups. With a damaged bullpen the importance of Alvarez is even more significant as without his presence the Mets are in shambles.

Let’s not forget Alvarez’s elite offense and bat to ball skills, for someone who really struggled in the beginning has really turned it around since coming off the IL. Since coming off the IL he has been batting .415 and in the past 8 games Alvarez has been even better posting a .520 BA/ .625 OBP/ .3 HR and 8 RBIs. During this time Alvarez has pulled his OPS from .579 on June 15 to .904 on June 28th. For the season now he is batting .313/ slugging over .500 an OPS over .900 and an OPS+ 62% better than league average (162). Alvarez is worth 1.3 WAR with just 30 games played, he’s already amassed 30 homers and joins a list of Josh Gibson, Johnny Bench Darrel Porter to hit 30 homers+ before age 23 season.

He is really living up to the #1 overall prospect hype and is doing so much and beyond for this Mets team. All the players love him all the pitchers love pitching to him all the fans adore him he’s clear and away the best Mets player to root for this year. And he is super young only 22 years old, he most certainly needs to remain a Met for life and sign a contract like a Ronald Acuna Jr one that’ll keep him forever at an affordable discount.