The Francisco Alvarez story in 2026 began with hope and ended with the same uncertainty that followed him into the year.
There were real reasons to believe this season might finally be the one where things clicked. Alvarez opened by making the first successful ABS challenge in Major League Baseball and followed that with a home run on Opening Day. For a moment, it looked like the Mets might get the version of Alvarez they had been waiting to see: healthy, productive, and making progress on both sides of the ball.
That glow faded quickly on May 12, when he tore his right meniscus during a plate appearance. The initial expectation was a six- to eight-week absence, but Alvarez was back less than four weeks later, returning on June 9. He has a reputation for healing fast, and this time was no different.
Because of the team’s injury situation, Alvarez spent more time than expected as a designated hitter early in the season. At the plate, the year was uneven.
He got off to a solid start, but the familiar trouble spots resurfaced. He chased pitch selection issues again, taking too many pitches in the strike zone and whiffing more on pitches outside the zone than the team average, even if his chase rate sat right around the team mark.
The slump after the trade deadline was the real drag on his offensive line. Before the deadline, Alvarez had a 26.4% strikeout rate, an .777 OPS, and looked like he might be settling in.
Afterward, the strikeouts spiked to 39.4% and his OPS dropped to .579. He finished at .233/.311/.399 with a 99 wRC+.
Behind the plate, the picture was rough again. Alvarez split catching duties with Luis Torrens, starting 82 games there and appearing in 88 total games as a catcher.
In 720.0 innings, he posted -5 DRS (-6.9/1000 innings), -2 FRV (-2.8/1000 innings), and 4.54 cERA, though he did land slightly above average with 2.2 framing runs. Torrens, one of the game’s best defensive catchers, didn’t make the comparison any easier.
His overall value came in at 1.4 fWAR, and even with the reminder that he is only 24 and has already spent four full seasons in the majors, the season closed without a clear answer. Maybe next year becomes the year of realizing stuff for Francisco Alvarez.
In Other News...
Mets Bullpen Reset Could Mean Tough Calls On 3 Relievers
After a last-place finish in the NL East for the first time in more than 20 years, the Mets are heading into an offseason where almost every part of the roster has to be examined, and the bullpen is no exception. Three relievers in particular, Myers, Nez and Garrett, sit in a tricky spot as the organization tries to sort through health, performance and roster flexibility while keeping one eye on the 2027 season.
Nez and Garrett are working back from Tommy John surgery, which already makes their paths more complicated, while Myers uneven results and minor league options add another layer to the decision-making. For a club that needs to find real answers in relief, the question is not just who can help, but who is worth keeping around if the Mets decide a reset means moving on from a few familiar names. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Fans Can Finally Revisit That Shohei Ohtani Trade Idea
In October 2022, a hypothetical Shohei Ohtani trade proposal from SNYs Danny Abriano gave Mets fans a chance to imagine what it might have taken to land the two-way superstar from the Angels. The package centered on three top 100 prospects, Brett Baty, Kevin Parada and Alex Ramirez, with a few other pieces in the mix, and it quickly became one of those exercises that says as much about the market for Ohtani as it does about the Mets farm system at the time.
Now theres a bit more context to revisit it with. Ohtani never moved in a trade, eventually leaving the Angels through free agency instead, while the Mets have since watched those prospect names take very different paths. Baty and Parada remain part of the conversation in Queens, Ramirez has his own development track, and the old what-if is the kind of front-office debate that never really disappears when a player like Ohtani is involved. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Instability Could Complicate Search For The Veteran Batting Voice They Need
The Mets search for a new hitting coach comes at a delicate moment, with the club moving on from director of hitting Jeff Albert after just one season and now weighing veteran voices to help steady an offense that has not met expectations. Kevin Long and John Mallee are among the names believed to be in the mix, and both would bring the kind of experience teams often covet when they want a clearer voice in the cage and a more established approach in the dugout.
Still, landing the right fit may not be simple. Recent performance has already made the job a tougher sell, and the organizational uncertainty around the club only adds another layer of difficulty as it tries to persuade a respected candidate to step into the role. For the Mets, the challenge is not just finding a hitting coach with a strong resume, but finding one willing to take on a situation that has plenty of questions attached to it. [Read more 🡒]