Francisco Alvarez was having a fantastic night in the 2025 MLB Little League Classic on Sunday night in Williamsport, but a right thumb injury forced him out of the game and will be a big cause for concern, putting a slight damper on the 7-3 win over the Seattle Mariners.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza had no definitive update on the injury after the game, but said the catcher will return to New York and undergo an MRI during Monday's off day.
"Right now, we don't know what we're dealing with, but we just gotta wait now," Mendoza said. He did not add if Alvarez would then travel to Washington to reunite with the club, which heads to the nation's capital to open a three-game series against the Nationals on Tuesday.
When asked how concerning the injury is due to the catcher's history with hand injuries throughout his career – he missed time in 2024 due to a torn ligament in his left thumb and missed the start of this season with a broken bone in his left hand – Mendoza said, "Concerning, I'm not gonna lie."
"I'm not gonna sit here and speculate," he added, "because we don't know what we're dealing with."
The injury occurred in the home half of the seventh inning when Alvarez cracked his third hit of the game with a double off the wall in right, just beating the throw with a head-first slide.
But on the slide, he appeared to jam his right thumb into the bag. Alvarez immediately called for time and was examined by the Mets’ training staff, but stayed in the game to run the bases. He advanced as far as third before he was stranded there, but when it came time for the top of the eighth inning, Luis Torrens was behind the plate.
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
Mendoza said that Alvarez's grip had "some strength" when he was examined on the field, but it was the manager who decided to lift the catcher before he came in to play defense.
"He was like, 'I'm good, I'm good, I'm good,'" the skipper said. "Then [after the inning] he's like, 'Let me play catch.' At that point, I was like, if you're still… let's not mess around with it and let's go inside. I basically took it away from him. I didn't want to even let him play catch."
Alvarez was seen exiting the Mets' dugout during the inning change and showed his right thumb to a few teammates as he headed back toward the clubhouse with a member of the training staff.
The 23-year-old, who missed the start of the season with a hamate fracture in his left hand and spent a chunk of the season working on things at Triple-A Syracuse, had appeared to have found his stroke at the plate.
Since returning from the demotion in late July, Alvarez is 20-for-62 (.323) with 10 extra-base hits and 13 RBI. With that hot streak, he has raised his average to .265 and OPS to .787 on the year.
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