Mets plan to use top prospect Francisco Alvarez as a backup while role evolves

When Buck Showalter was asked about Francisco Alvarez’s role Friday, he answered by praising Tomas Nido. When asked how he plans to develop baseball’s top prospect while also winning games, Showalter understandably said it is “very heavily weighted toward winning” .  .  . and then he brought up Nido.

So while Showalter and the Mets say that Alvarez’s place on this team will evolve with time, it seemed clear before the home opener that for now, that role is “backup catcher.”

“I’m hoping both [winning and development] happen,” Showalter said. “It’s kind of like a quarterback that gets drafted out of college and everybody knows he’s going to be a valuable player, but the time he spends as a backup is very valuable, too. Tomas is pretty good. He does a great job for us.”

Of course, the Mets would prefer not to be navigating this situation at all.

Alvarez, 21, is the most promising catching prospect since the Orioles’ Adley Rutschman and has a power bat that has rocketed him from rookie ball to the majors in a little more than three seasons.

But swift success also has meant an incomplete skill set — his athleticism and framing are still developing, as are his swing decisions (he struck out 24.8% of the time last year and had eight strikeouts in 19 Triple-A plate appearances this season). He hit .107 in 28 spring training at-bats this year, with two walks and 10 strikeouts.

An injury to Omar Narvaez, though, moved up the time line. Narvaez, who is expected to be out for about eight weeks with a high left calf strain, said he is “really looking forward” to using the time to mentor Alvarez. Meanwhile, Nido got the start Friday, and Showalter said he’s “probably viewing it as an opportunity to establish himself as an everyday catcher.”

Nido, a career backup, played a career-high 98 games last year and is a career .217 hitter.

Showalter also said he’s open to using Alvarez as a designated hitter and that it benefits no one to have Alvarez languishing on the bench instead of getting the reps that could help him improve.

“Obviously, we’re lucky to have a guy like Tomas, who we’re very comfortable with,” Showalter said. “We’ll see how it evolves. It’s kind of a day-to-day thing with what the needs of the club are and where Tomas is. But certainly Francisco will get some playing time.”

For his part, Alvarez did what all good rookies do: He said he’s happy to play however and whenever he’s asked. He was shocked when he got the call, he said — he had to stop eating, pack and hurry to a plane, in fact.

The goal is to “just concentrate and focus on what I need to do on an everyday basis,” he said through an interpreter. “The most important thing is to win out here.”

There’s also a whole lot he can pick up in two months in the majors.

“Tomas has been good with that,” Showalter said of helping the rookie along. Alvarez is “a very easy guy to embrace, and when you see veteran guys drawn to a player, it tells you something about that player. There’s room for everybody. That’s one of the things we’ve talked about. I think Omar will continue with that [too].”

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.