Mets topped the Marlins 19-9 <\/a>on Friday. \u201cHe\u2019s not favoring anything. He\u2019s letting it go. From what I saw today, he looks like a normal player.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250816LLCLASSICNYMVSEA04439RS.jpg\")
Francisco Alvarez slides safely into second base for a double during the Mets\u2019 win over the Mariners on Aug. 17, 2025. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old broke his pinkie upon being drilled in his first rehab game with Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday, met with doctors Thursday and wasted no time upon receiving clearance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as the doctor gave him the OK,\u201d Mendoza said, \u201cthe first thing he said was like, \u2018All right. Can I go hit now?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd sure enough, 10 minutes later, he was in the cages taking hacks.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After several rounds of BP on Friday, Alvarez ran the bases, then retrieved catching gear to catch a bullpen session.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Defensively, his left hand \u2014 which lacks a useful pinkie \u2014 needs to prove it can withstand the rigors of routinely catching heat that surely hurts. His right hand needs to prove it can throw without the aid of a thumb, which Alvarez has acknowledged can be awkward. Catching and strategy coach Glenn Sherlock watched Alvarez catch a bullpen session Thursday and came away impressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250816LLCLASSICNYMVSEA02478RS.jpg\")
Francisco Alvarez doubles during the second inning of the Mets\u2019 win over the Mariners on Aug. 17. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
The Mets still are waiting to see how Alvarez\u2019s hands recover before greenlighting a resumption of his rehab assignment, but the early returns have been eye-opening.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anybody like him,\u201d Sherlock said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tylor Megill will receive at least one more rehab start.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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Recovering from a right elbow sprain, Megill made a fourth minor league start Thursday, when he walked four and allowed three runs in four innings over 70 pitches with Triple-A Syracuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jesse Winker (back) went 0-for-3 as DH in his second rehab game with Low-A St. Lucie. He was replaced by Jose Siri (fractured tibia) as a pinch-runner in the sixth inning. In his own second rehab game, Siri went 2-for-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brett Baty started at second base, Tyrone Taylor in center field and Starling Marte at DH on a day Jeff McNeil got a breather.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mendoza said the break was normal for McNeil during a stretch of 16 games in 16 days. McNeil\u2019s shoulder was banged up last week, which led to more days at DH and in the infield, but Mendoza said the shoulder is fine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
First base coach Antoan Richardson was honored before the game with Guardian\u2019s \u201cEveryday Champion Award,\u201d which \u201chighlights those who make a meaningful difference in their communities, inspire well-being in others and show up when needed most.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Richardson runs a nonprofit that helps youth in the Bahamas pursue their athletic and academic passions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If at some point Francisco Alvarez is down to nubs for hands, count on the slugger using tape…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":187151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,7697,1266,405,403,1305,5226,5225,5228,5227,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-187150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-francisco-alvarez","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-mets","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}