Mets’ Francisco Alvarez impressing in Triple-A stint as he eyes major league comeback

Francisco Alvarez’s bat is cooking, and the Mets are noticing.

The catcher had six homers in his past four games for Triple-A Syracuse entering Saturday night and continues to show improvement behind the plate, according to manager Carlos Mendoza, in what has been an open-ended minor league assignment.

Unlike when the Mets optioned Luisangel Acuña to Syracuse last month knowing he would return after receiving 40-50 at-bats, Mendoza said there is no such structure in place for Alvarez (who was optioned June 22).

“[Alvarez] needs to go down there and play, and then we’ll make a decision when we have to,” Mendoza said before the Mets lost 5-2 to the Reds at Citi Field.

Alvarez’s surge at Syracuse has occurred as the Mets are receiving little offensively from Luis Torrens, who has assumed the everyday catching duties.

Torrens began the day with a .593 OPS, before going 2-for-3 with a walk.

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But the Mets want to ensure the 23-year-old Alvarez is ready before recalling him.

“We’ve been seeing the power, obviously, the way he is driving the baseball to all fields,” Mendoza said. “But the defense, the reports we’re continuing to get are pretty impressive. The receiving, the blocking, everything we’re asking him to do he continues to make improvement on.”

Brooks Raley pitched a scoreless seventh with two strikeouts in his season debut.

The left-hander missed the previous 14 months after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.

“Your typical Brooks Raley outing,” Mendoza said. “The sweeper was good, with a lot of movement, got the lefties and the righties, so it was good to see him back out there.”

Mendoza opened his pregame session with reporters by acknowledging David Wright, whose No. 5 was retired by the organization.

“A special career, obviously, but what a special human,” said Mendoza, who has gotten to know the former third baseman during spring training the past two seasons. “One of the highlights for me was meeting David last year in spring training and just the humble, the quality of the person, it was pretty incredible.”