Mets prospect Francisco Alvarez undergoes ankle surgery
Francisco Alvarez, the Mets’ top prospect and one of the top-ranked in baseball, had surgery on his ankle Tuesday.
The 20-year-old catcher missed time in late August with a loose body his right ankle. The Mets shut him down and he was able to avoid surgery. He returned to Triple-A Syracuse and played well enough to warrant a call-up for the final week of the regular season.
But following the season, he underwent imaging and he had surgery to address cartilage damage resulting from the preexisting loose body. The club expects him to be ready for spring training.
The surgery appears to have gone well as Alvarez posted some post-op selfies to his Instagram stories, including one with his foot wrapped in a bandage captioned, “Thank you my God. Everything went super well” in Spanish.
A power-hitting catcher from Venezuela, Alvarez started the season in Double-A Binghamton and put up monster numbers. He was promoted to Triple-A after 67 games but he struggled at the onset. He hit just .167 over his first 15 games. However, the concerns disappeared when he returned, as hit .362 with three home runs and a 1.079 OPS.
Alvarez was called up to the Major Leagues on Sept. 30, making his debut that night as the DH against the Atlanta Braves. In his brief big league stint, he didn’t do a ton of damage but he did display the power with a long home run against the Washington Nationals.
