Baty knows injury recovery path for 'freakish' Alvarez

LOS ANGELES -- As Francisco Alvarez spends the next 6-8 weeks recovering from a season-altering left thumb injury, he can at least lean on the counsel of one of his best friends.

Teammate Brett Baty underwent an identical operation to repair a torn UCL in his right thumb in August 2022, providing a blueprint for what Alvarez’s recovery might look like. The two spoke after Alvarez received his diagnosis of a torn ligament.

Baty’s advice? “Take it slow and make sure he heals up.”

“He’s, like, one of the most freakish humans I’ve ever been around,” Baty said. “He heals completely different than other people, and he doesn’t feel pain.”

• Alvarez to undergo surgery on torn ligament in thumb

Baty’s 2022 situation was slightly dissimilar, only because his injury occurred toward the end of the regular season. At the time, team officials cited a five-week recovery period, giving Baty an outside chance to return for the playoffs. But when the Mets were eliminated in the Wild Card round, Baty slowed his rehab process.

Even then, Baty continued to feel stiffness in his thumb into 2023 -- particularly at the start of the season, once he flew north from Port St. Lucie, Fla., and began playing in the colder temperatures at Triple-A Syracuse.

“I didn’t realize how much my top hand rubbed on my thumb until I hurt it,” Baty said of his swing. “I think [Alvarez] is just going to have to take it slow. He’s going to want to start gripping stuff right when he gets out of surgery.”

Because Alvarez’s injured thumb is on his bottom hand while batting, just like Baty’s, he expects his teammate to feel similar discomfort once he returns to baseball activities. Throughout his early rehab, Baty taped a brace over his right batting glove and wore another one on defense. Another difficulty for Alvarez could be regaining enough grip strength to frame pitches as expertly as he had early in the season.

Those are challenges Alvarez will face once his rehab ramps up in May. He’s first scheduled to undergo surgery Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Asked about his reaction to the injury, Alvarez said Sunday that “I was mad at myself," and that, “I felt very sad.” Before coming out of Friday’s game, Alvarez went into the clubhouse between innings and tried to close his catcher’s mitt. He was unable to do so.

A day later, he received the diagnosis of a torn UCL in his thumb and some encouragement from Baty.

“He told me … it’s a very quick recovery,” Alvarez said. “I feel good for that. It could have happened, [been] something … worse than that.”