Alvarez to undergo surgery on torn ligament in thumb

LOS ANGELES -- Entering this season, Francisco Alvarez ranked among the brightest aspects of an improving Mets organization. Coming off a strong rookie year, Alvarez profiled as one of the league’s most obvious breakout candidates.

If he is to make good on that potential, Alvarez will need to wait some time to do so. The Mets announced Saturday that Alvarez has a torn ligament in his left thumb and will require surgery. Although the team did not publicly estimate a timetable for Alvarez’s recovery, the catcher told teammates he expects to miss 6-8 weeks.

“It’s awful that it happened like that,” said Tomás Nido, one of two veteran catchers who will absorb Alvarez’s playing time. “But this team is built with the depth that we have to be able to battle through these things and keep winning ballgames.”

The Mets placed Alvarez on the 10-day injured list prior to their 6-4 win over the Dodgers. Only later in the day, after receiving additional test results, did they revise their diagnosis on what team officials originally called a sprain.

A team spokesman said that Alvarez intends to speak publicly about his injury on Sunday.

“When you lose a player like Alvarez who brings so much energy to all of us, it was definitely a tough blow,” outfielder Starling Marte said through an interpreter.

Throughout the young season, Alvarez absorbed lump after lump behind home plate, regularly taking swings and foul balls off his catcher’s mitt, mask and chest protector. But nothing seemed to faze Alvarez until Friday, when he stumbled around first base after reaching on an error. As Alvarez began to lose his balance, he stuck out his left hand in an attempt to break his fall. In the process, his thumb bent back at an extreme angle.

The ensuing 20 hours became an exercise in crisis management. As Alvarez underwent an MRI and other tests, the Mets sent word to Charlotte, N.C., where Nido was playing at Triple-A. Nido hopped on a connecting flight through Atlanta, waited out a two-hour delay, touched down in Los Angeles, fought another 90 minutes of traffic and arrived to Dodger Stadium about 20 minutes after first pitch. By the bottom of the seventh inning, he was on the field in catcher’s gear.

Nido and Omar Narváez will split time behind the plate in Alvarez’s absence, with Narváez, a left-handed hitter, likely to receive the majority of reps. He is slashing .200/.259/.240 without a home run in nine games this season, while Nido was off to a nice start at Triple-A Syracuse, with a .345/.345/.517 slash line and one homer in nine games.

Yet neither of them is Alvarez, a 22-year-old wunderkind who once ranked as MLB Pipeline’s top overall prospect. Despite getting off to a slow start at the plate, Alvarez still collected five extra-base hits over his first 59 plate appearances while rating in the 92nd percentile in Statcast’s catcher framing metric. Overall, he was slashing .236/.288/.364 with one home run.

Beyond the numbers, Alvarez has been a popular clubhouse presence, known for his gregarious nature and tireless work ethic.

“I feel sad for him,” said pitcher José Buttó, a Venezuelan countryman who has known Alvarez since his earliest days in the United States. “That’s my brother.”

Because the Mets have two veteran catchers already in house, they are unlikely to pursue significant help outside the organization. The team paid up for catching depth two offseasons ago, signing Narváez to a two-year, $15 million contract and guaranteeing Nido’s final two arbitration years for a total of $3.7 million.

“It’s sad because [Alvarez] is a really important piece of our team,” Narváez said. “We all know that he’s a tough kid, and it takes a lot to take him out of the game. But things happen. You’ve just got to play the game. I’m ready to go, and I’ll try to keep the team at the same level [until] he comes back.”

Before Alvarez left Dodger Stadium on Saturday, he hugged teammates and clasped hands with a staffer. Others in the clubhouse tried to speak optimistically. A timetable of 6-8 weeks brings Alvarez to June in a best-case scenario, leaving plenty of time for him to contribute to what’s rapidly becoming an intriguing Mets season.

“It’s tough, and it won’t be probably the last hard news that we have,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. “It is unfortunate. I love the way he’s playing the game. I love the way he’s growing as a player, but these kinds of things happen. It’s just another obstacle to overcome.”