Mets' Top Prospect Francisco Alvarez Recalled but as Backup Catcher for Now

The New York Mets have recalled top prospect Francisco Alvarez, the Mets official website reports.

Alvarez will take the place of Omar Narvaez, who will be out for 2-3 months due to a calf injury. The curious thing is that manager Buck Showalter stated Friday that Tomas Nido will be the starting catcher, with Alvarez being the backup.

This is against the norm. When teams call up a top prospect, they almost always want that prospect to play. They generally don’t believe he will learn much on the bench. Perhaps Showalter is trying to ease the pressure off of Alvarez, or maybe the Mets are still worried about his defensive deficiencies. Could Alvarez be the designated hitter? Most teams don’t like to do that as they don’t want both of their catchers playing in the same game in case of injury.

On Saturday, the Mets will have Kodai Senga starting versus Trevor Rogers of the Miami Marlins. The Mets are +126 (-1.5) on the run line and -162 on the moneyline, with an over/under of 7.5, over (-115), and under (-105). You can find the lines and props for this game and all others on the FanDuel Sportsbook.