Francisco Alvarez’s elevation to the Mets roster for the final week of last regular season and the NL wild-card series fueled the notion the rookie is ready for regular catching duties with the club in 2023.
While that still could be the case, team brass wisely understood the need for another plan in case the 21-year-old top prospect won’t be prepared by the end of spring training for all that is involved with handling a veteran pitching staff.
Enter Omar Narvaez, who arrived in December on a one-year contract worth $8 million that contains a $7 million player option for 2024. Narvaez, who turns 31 next week, can split duties with Tomas Nido and give the Mets a left/right combination offensively that plays to each’s strength.
“With [Narvaez] and Tomas, we have two guys in the top 10 in receiving, and Omar is just a good caller of the game, a good receiver, he comes with a real good reputation for working with pitchers and it’s a left-handed bat,” manager Buck Showalter told Post Sports+ recently.
