New York Mets Must Practice Patience with Francisco Álvarez
It's easy to forget just how young Mets top prospect Francisco Álvarez is.
At 21-years-old, Álvarez is just barely old enough to consume alcohol, and yet is taking meaningful at-bats at the major league level in one of the biggest cities in the world.
That's why growing pains are to be expected, and there needs to be patience shown to the young backstop.
On Tuesday night against the San Diego Padres, Álvarez came to the dish with two outs in the ninth inning of a 4-2 game with the tying runs in scoring position.
Facing a tough customer in closer Josh Hader, Álvarez went down swinging to end the game in what turned out to be a very lopsided at-bat.
While Álvarez couldn't deliver the big hit, the fact that he's in the majors at all is impressive, and it was even more impressive when he debuted at 20-years-old at the tail end of last year.
Álvarez originally signed with the Mets as an international free agent in 2018 from Venezuela.
As a 17-year-old, Álvarez debuted in rookie ball and had a .916 OPS in 42 games.
After missing all of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent cancellation of the minor league season, Álvarez didn't see a professional pitch again until 2021.
Since then, Álvarez has rocketed through New York's system, and after a strong 2022 season between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse, earned a call-up to baseball's highest level.
Though Álvarez appeared in just five games with the Mets in 2022, he did rock his first MLB home run in the final regular season series of the year.
After the season, Álvarez underwent surgery on his ankle, but was ready in time for Spring Training this year.
When the Mets shipped James McCann off to Baltimore and signed catcher Omar Narváez to a one-year deal this winter, the writing was on the wall for Álvarez to begin the year at Triple-A.
With Narváez slated to miss 8-9 weeks with a calf injury, Álvarez was recalled and is going to get an extended look with the team.
So while Tuesday showed he isn't ready just yet, there are a lot of things the youngster can absorb by getting MLB experience, and the fact that he's only 21-years-old and is here so quick means there are only bright things on the horizon.
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