The Mets’ No. 1 prospect is ready to make his next big leap.
Francisco Alvarez has been told that he will be promoted to Triple-A Syracuse on Monday, a source with knowledge of the organization’s decision confirmed to the News.
Alvarez, 20, has been tearing the cover off the ball for Double-A Binghamton. He entered Sunday slashing .277/.368/.553 with 18 home runs, 47 RBI, 36 walks and 16 doubles in 67 games. The 5-foot-10, 233-pound catcher has a stocky, powerful frame that was built to mash home runs. Alvarez has crushed 14 dingers over his last 141 plate appearances.
Getting a promotion to the uppermost echelon of the minor leagues is a big deal no matter the situation. But for Alvarez, his advancement will carry extra weight as it relates to his short-term future.
Alvarez, the best power hitter in the organization behind only Pete Alonso, has the opportunity to make a difference for the Mets as soon as this season. If he can continue crushing baseballs at Triple-A at even close to the same rate as he’s been doing it at Double-A, Alvarez will have forced the Mets hand for the ultimate promotion to The Show.
Even so, the Mets wouldn’t call up Alvarez until the end of the season as the club does not want to mess with his development behind the plate. Despite the compliments Alvarez received from Max Scherzer, who threw to him last Wednesday in a rehab start for Double-A Binghamton, the catcher still has a lot of work to do as a defensive catcher and the Mets don’t want a promotion to designated hitter for the big-league team getting in the way of that.
“The statistical stuff takes care of itself,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “That’s easy. It’s the other stuff that’s really a difference-maker.”
Showalter said when he calls a minor-league manager and asks about a player, he is interested in two things: the player’s defense, and his impact on teammates. Showalter believes those are the elements, one even an intangible, that will set a player up for long-term success.
When shortstop Manny Machado was called up to the Orioles, then-Baltimore manager Showalter said he wasn’t worried about his slow offensive start. Going from Triple-A to the majors is the biggest jump in professional sports, and it’s difficult to predict how any given player will handle that leap, offensively. What Showalter was more interested in was how well Machado could play defense.
“We knew he was going to be an excellent defender while he figured out the offensive part of it, which is exactly what happened,” Showalter said of Machado. “He impacted us defensively while he figured out the pitching difference. When you start bringing up guys like that, they have to be good defenders.”
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