Francisco Alvarez Injury: Catches nine innings at Triple-A

Alvarez (thumb/finger) was able to catch all nine innings of Sunday's game with Triple-A Syracuse, and he appears to be close to returning from the injured list, Tim Britton of The Athletic reports.

The 23-year-old backstop landed on the IL on Aug. 18 due to a right thumb injury that will likely require offseason surgery, and Alvarez's digits continued to take a beating on a rehab assignment last week when he was hit by a pitch and fractured his lefty pinky finger Wednesday. Incredibly, he was only sidelined until Saturday before resuming his rehab stint, and pain tolerance appears to be the biggest hurdle before he'll be able to return to the Mets. That said, over his two games this weekend with Syracuse he went 1-for-9 with six strikeouts, and trying to play through injuries to both hands isn't going to help his performance as a hitter.