McNeil, Alvarez each play for St. Lucie in rehab appearances

Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil and catcher Francisco Alvarez each played in a rehab game with Single-A St. Lucie on Friday night against the Lakeland Flying Tigers at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

McNeil, who has been on the injured list with a right oblique strain he suffered during Spring Training, went 1-for-2 with a single, a walk and a run scored. It was the first game of his rehab assignment. Alvarez, who fractured the hamate bone in his left hand on March 8, went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run in his second rehab game. He was 1-for-3 with a single in his first game with St. Lucie on Wednesday.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said on Friday that both players would continue their rehab assignments with St. Lucie on Sunday. He said that Alvarez would then travel to Citi Field on Monday before continuing his rehab assignment with Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday. Mendoza said that McNeil would play another game with St. Lucie on Tuesday before joining Syracuse to continue his rehab assignment.

"He got more at-bats than Alvarez did in Spring Training, so that’s good there," Mendoza said of McNeil, "but I think we’re going to play it by ear here once we get closer to him playing back-to-back nine innings. They’re both in good shape. I think it’s just more getting the at-bats and feeling good about themselves."

McNeil, who led the Majors with a .326 batting average in 2022, is looking for a bounce-back performance at the plate after producing the lowest batting average (.238) of any season in his career last year. Alvarez, meanwhile, posted a .710 OPS with 11 home runs in 342 plate appearances in 2024, when he was sidelined for nearly two months with a thumb injury.