Francisco Alvarez arrived at spring training in Port St. Lucie having lost roughly 10 pounds this offseason, the product of a revamped diet that required him to sacrifice the one thing he didn’t want to give up: his mother’s arepas.
Those large discs of corn dough stuffed with meat, eggs, and cheese? Gone. In their place: sweet potatoes, chicken, and roasted broccoli seasoned with pepper. When asked about missing the arepas, Alvarez laughed and dropped a four-letter word.
“It’s not a big change,” Alvarez said Friday, “but it’s not nothing.”
For a catcher who played just 76 games in 2025 due to a series of hand injuries, “not nothing” might be the understatement of the spring.
The Mets Need Alvarez Healthy More Than They Need Him Lighter
The weight loss, from a playing weight of 245 pounds last summer to a target range of 225–235, is encouraging. But durability matters far more than the number on a scale for a 24-year-old who has undergone three hand surgeries over the past two seasons.
Alvarez fractured his left hamate bone during a live batting practice session last March, requiring surgery that delayed his season debut until April 25. He struggled through May and June, hitting .236 with only three home runs in his first 138 plate appearances before the Mets optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse on June 22.
He came back a different hitter. After returning on July 21, Alvarez slashed .276/.360/.561 with eight home runs over his final 41 games. Then, at the Little League Classic in Williamsport, he sprained the UCL in his right thumb sliding into second base. He played through that injury for the final few weeks of the season after returning from the injured list in early September, adding a fractured left pinkie finger from a hit-by-pitch along the way. Surgery followed days after the Mets’ season ended.
New catching coach J.P. Arencibia, promoted from Triple-A Syracuse this winter, sees the weight loss as something deeper than a fitness initiative.
“When I look at that, I look at commitment,” Arencibia said. “More than anything, that’s what I look at. Somebody who is committed to being the best version of himself. And that’s what fires me up.”
Alvarez worked with director of hitting Jeff Albert this offseason and plans to keep the batting stance he re-adopted after his demotion last summer. The mechanical adjustment helped unlock his power stroke in the second half, and the Mets are betting that consistency will carry into 2026.
A Franchise Cornerstone Still Searching for a Full Season
The talent has never been in question. Alvarez crushed 25 home runs as a 21-year-old rookie in 2023, setting the Mets’ franchise record for home runs by a rookie catcher. He ranked among the game’s elite at the position that season, both behind the plate and at it. Finding catchers who can hit is notoriously difficult, and Alvarez looked like the rare solution.
Then came the injuries. A torn UCL in his left thumb cost him nearly two months in 2024. The hamate fracture and right thumb sprain derailed 2025. He has now missed significant time in back-to-back seasons, and his 76 games last year tied for the fewest among starting catchers on playoff-contending teams.
The offensive potential remains tantalizing. According to Baseball Savant, Alvarez posted a 93.1 mph average exit velocity in 2025 with a 54.3% hard-hit rate, both numbers that profile as well above average. His .256 batting average was a career high. The raw power that made him one of the top prospects in baseball entering 2023 still flashes regularly when he’s healthy enough to play.
Alvarez said he approaches every spring the same way.
“Every year, we come in with the same expectations: ‘It’s going to be our year, it’s going to be my year,'” he said. “For me, it’s just being consistent with my routine, being consistent with me, being consistent with everything. And go play baseball.”
Consistent availability would be a start. The Mets built a roster this winter that includes Juan Soto, Luis Robert Jr., and Bo Bichette. They need Alvarez to anchor the lineup from the catching spot rather than watch from the injured list.
If he hits 30 home runs? Alvarez joked that he’ll ask his mother to celebrate by cooking arepas “for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
First, he has to stay on the field long enough to get there.