How Francisco Alvarez Could Force New York Mets' Hand
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All eyes were rightfully on Mets’ co-ace Max Scherzer on Wednesday night during his second rehab start with Double A Binghamton as he continued his path back to the majors.
But that didn’t stop top prospect Francisco Alvarez from putting on a show of his own.
In the third inning, Alvarez cranked a two-run home run to left field, his 18th of the season, with 14 of them coming in his last 30 games.
The 20-year-old is now hitting .276/.358/.561 on the campaign, making a strong case for a promotion sooner rather than later to Triple A Syracuse.
The one knock on Alvarez so far is that his defense needs polishing, though Scherzer said after the game that he’s “excited to see what he can do.”
“He made some adjustments with me along the way,” Scherzer said. “He worked with me pretty well.”
Alvarez has long been vocal about wanting to make it to the majors this year. In spring training, the catcher said his biggest goal for 2022 was debuting in the show.
“Make it to the bigs,” Alvarez said. “Make it to the bigs. That’s the goal.”
Earlier this month, Alvarez doubled down on wanting to be called up this year.
“I think Vladdy, Acuña, Tatis Jr. — those guys were in my spot & they’re already in the bigs,” Alvarez told Greg Joyce of The New York Post earlier this month. “So I want people to treat me as a man.”
Jon Heyman of The Post followed up by saying that the Mets aren’t ruling out an Alvarez promotion this year, though they’d prefer to see him at Triple A first.
Prior to the 2022 season, Alvarez had never played above Single A. That is because after playing at the rookie level in 2019, Alvarez, like so many other minor leaguers, missed all of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This, combined with his young age, made making the jump to MLB this season seem like a pipe dream.
However, given how much he has thrived this season, combined with the struggles of catcher James McCann, it now seems a bit more possible.
McCann, who spent time at Double A during his recent rehab assignment, said regardless of what the outcome is, he is going to be rooting for Alvarez.
“I root for him to have success. I don’t root for him to fail. I want him to have success, I want him to have a phenomenal career,” McCann said recently, according to Tim Healey of Newsday. “I hope that the things I talked to him about in spring training, the things I talked to him about this week, he can take with him in his career. Whenever he does get here, I’m going to be rooting for him. Regardless of my status, I’m going to root for him.”
With Alvarez, the Mets are hoping they will ultimately have a long term solution behind the dish for the first time since Mike Piazza.
While there’s no need to rush Alvarez’s push to the majors at such a young age, if he continues to play the way he has, he might force the team’s hand. And he seems up to the task.
Read More:
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- Max Scherzer Believes He's Ready to Rejoin Mets
- Mets' Pete Alonso, Starling Marte Move to Final Phase of All-Star Voting; Jeff McNeil Snubbed
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