Alvarez was placed on the 10-day injured list Tuesday. The tear in his UCL ultimately requires surgery to mend, and that surgery would end Alvarez’s regular season. However, the Mets and Alvarez will wait on surgery for the time being, hoping that after 10-14 days, the inflammation will subside enough to allow him to swing a bat and return this year.
“He wants to give it a try,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We’re hopeful he can play through this.”
The plan is to re-evaluate Alvarez after that shutdown and, if his thumb looks good enough, test his pain tolerance with a rehab assignment.
San Diego’s Luis Arraez and Houston’s Mauricio Dubón played through the injury last season.
Whenever the surgery takes place, the prognosis after it is strong; the recovery timeline is only seven to eight weeks. Had Alvarez and the Mets decided to undergo surgery right away, a best-case scenario would have put him in line to return for the NLCS. Ultimately, a team source indicated the Mets didn’t like the idea of losing Alvarez for that long — obviously impacting their ability to advance as far as an NLCS — and then trying to incorporate the catcher back after a prolonged absence in games that important.
Francisco Alvarez was visited by Carlos Mendoza and a trainer after diving into second base.
Alvarez is staying in the game after his double.
(via @ESPN) pic.twitter.com/y1kPUiZ21y
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 18, 2025
Since rejoining the team just after the All-Star break following a demotion to the minor leagues, Alvarez has hit .323 with a .408 on-base percentage and .645 slugging percentage. In just the last week, he collected nine hits in 20 at-bats with three doubles, three homers and nine RBIs.
Alvarez’s resurgence was a critical development for a Mets team enmeshed in a prolonged malaise. New York’s series win over Seattle was its first in August, and it led Cincinnati by just one game for the final wild-card spot in the National League entering Tuesday.
Alvarez will also now miss next week’s big series between the Mets and first-place Phillies in Queens.
This is the third hand injury Alvarez has suffered in the last two seasons, but the first to his right hand. Last April, he hit the IL after tearing the UCL in his left thumb. That cost him seven weeks. This spring, he fractured the hamate bone in his left hand and missed the first four weeks of the season.
The spring injury, in particular, took a toll on Alvarez’s offense — less from a physical perspective and more because it prevented him from working through his offseason swing changes during exhibition games. It wasn’t until his stint in Triple A that Alvarez landed on a swing that felt more natural to him. The results have followed.
In Alvarez’s absence, Luis Torrens will likely see most of the playing time behind the plate. Torrens is a defensive weapon, especially against potential base stealers, but his offense has floundered of late. He’s hitting .185 with a .467 OPS since Alvarez was demoted in June.
Hayden Senger was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to back up Torrens.
(Photo of Alvarez: Joe Sargent / Getty Images)
