No stat is perfect and catcher’s ERA (cERA) has more than its share of faults. But it’s not totally useless. And with a pitching staff lacking a dominant hurler or two, cERA is probably more useful for the 2024 Mets than a lot of other teams out there. And the results are impossible to ignore. Pitchers have massively better results with one guy in particular. Here’s how it’s been for all Mets catchers this season:
| Catcher | G | IP | ER | ERA | PA | HR | SB | CS | BB | SO | SO/W | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomas Nido | 32 | 230.1 | 132 | 5.16 | 998 | 35 | 26 | 6 | 95 | 219 | 2.31 | .254 | .331 | .431 | .762 |
| Francisco Alvarez | 28 | 219 | 66 | 2.71 | 894 | 19 | 15 | 1 | 86 | 240 | 2.79 | .195 | .281 | .309 | .590 |
| Omar Narvaez | 28 | 186 | 89 | 4.31 | 817 | 10 | 33 | 2 | 96 | 179 | 1.86 | .232 | .337 | .341 | .678 |
| Luis Torrens | 9 | 64 | 31 | 4.36 | 280 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 26 | 51 | 1.96 | .276 | .354 | .447 | .801 |
| Joe Hudson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .500 |
Obviously, Alvarez is head and shoulders above his current and ex-teammates in this metric. That edge he enjoys in cERA is massive, which overshadows how much better he’s been in OPS, too. Remember Spring Training in 2023, when the Mets claimed that Alvarez wasn’t MLB ready defensively? Then he came up in April and proved how silly that was. And he’s making a mockery of that idea here in 2024. Beyond Alvarez’ sterling play, one thing that this chart puts in clear focus is why the club moved on from Nido. For a guy here for his defensive prowess, there’s really not much here to back the reputation. Yeah, he threw out more runners than Alvarez but everything else was just dreadful. Torrens hasn’t been much better but he brings something to the table as a hitter, making him an easy choice over Nido.
Back to Alvarez – he’s made a major impact with club’s lefty starters. Here’s how Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana have done overall and with Alvarez behind the plate:
SM – Overall: 76.1 IP, 3.89 ERA; Alvarez: 27.2 IP, 1.63 ERA
JQ – Overall: 78.2 IP, 4.58 ERA; Alvarez: 28 IP, 2.25 ERA
And it’s not just LHP. Alvarez has had a big impact with Adrian Houser, too
AH – Overall: 58.1 IP, 5.55 ERA; Alvarez: 17 IP, 2.12 ERA
Edwin Diaz’ poor results came when Alvarez was on the IL. He’s also gotten great results from the rest of the current pen, outside of Danny Young.
But as great as he’s been defensively, there’s one player who has not been helped at all by having Alvarez behind the dish. In two starts, this pitcher has just 7.2 IP and a 10.57 ERA with Alvarez behind the plate. Not even the magic of Alvarez can help Tylor Megill. And it’s not just this year, either. Alvarez caught 12 games for Megill in 2023 and in 57.2 IP, Megill had a 6.24 ERA. Forget about giving Alvarez a rest with a day game following a night game – give him the day off when Megill takes the mound.
I truly believe that Alvarez is the MVP of this team based upon what they look like with him vs. without him. Now to get Kodai Senga on the mound.
Remember when they were worried about bringing Alvarez up because of his defense? Then they brought them up and found out that he could really catch? It is wonderful that what I think we have behind the plate is a franchise player, both on defense and offense. Perhaps he needs to start hitting cleanup and move Alonso down to space.
You would think that Alvarez was a seasoned veteran the way he handles himself and the Pitching staff on the field, but he is only 22 years old and has only 138 games catching in his career. The cOPS and cERA is very Impressive.