Once it became clear that New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez suffered a broken hamate bone in his hand during spring training and thus would miss several weeks of the regular season, some fans and media members suggested it was a foregone conclusion that New York’s front office would look elsewhere for a backup catcher.
Luis Torrens was on the roster at that point, but there was skepticism he would produce enough while Alvarez was sidelined. Then the season started, and Torrens thrived not only on defense but at the plate.
Still, when Alvarez was finally healthy, he quickly assumed his starting role — and proceeded to struggle immensely on offense, producing essentially zero power. Whenever Torrens got opportunities, he kept producing, to the point where Torrens now has a .272 average and .786 OPS while Alvarez has a .243 average and .652 OPS.
Now, some believe Torrens deserves to receive the starting catcher job outright. And while New York Post MLB insider Jon Heyman didn’t say this directly, he conveyed that Torrens deserves even more opportunities during a May 27 episode of The Show: A NY Post baseball podcast with Joel Sherman & Jon Heyman.
“Maybe a wake-up call as I mentioned will do him good. He obviously is not performing like they have expected, like he did in the minor leagues,” Heyman said of Alvarez. “And Torrens has been frankly better.
“So to me, that’s an easy call right now, to play Torrens more. I’m not saying make him the starter and don’t use Alvarez, but Torrens is the better player,” Heyman continued.
One wonders how long of a leash Carlos Mendoza will give Alvarez as the team’s starting backstop while Torrens continues to outperform him.