Antonio Slater - Alvarez Arrives in Brooklyn

 

(photo credit: Ed Delany)

All throughout the offseason the mood had changed surrounding the New York Mets: New owner, new aggressive front office, new star shortstop, new expectations. Steve Cohen made one thing abundantly clear from his very first press conference as owner of the Mets: He wants to win. He wants to win now, and in the future. That started with building a strong front office, an increase in analytics, acquiring a brand new superstar in Francisco Lindor, and filling out the roster with tremendous depth that has helped propel the Mets to being a first place team as the calendar turns over to June. That’s the “now”. 

The “future” is taking place in Brooklyn, where we have seen Mets future stars put on an electric display of ability and potential. Mets fans have been able to see #2 prospect Ronny Mauricio and #4 prospect Brett Baty show their tremendous potential there already, and now, they are joined by top organizational prospect and #37 in MLB.com’s Top 100, Francisco Alvarez. 
Alvarez has been an immediate offensive threat and has the potential to be one of the best hitting catchers in the game. He had a .802 OPS as a 17 year old in Rookie ball in 2019, and looks to carry that over and by providing more thump to an already explosive Broolyn offense. Giving Mets fans an even closer look at the potential middle of their lineup with three of the the top four prospects in the organization hitting consecutively. 

Simply put, this kid is going to be an absolute force at the plate. He can drive the ball over the wall, has an incredible knack for getting barrel to ball, hits line drives to all fields, and is a tough guy to strike out. His 21.2% K rate through his first 217 professional at bats would be an above average rate if he were in the major leagues. 

He made an instant impact in his Cyclones debut. He slapped down a nice catch and tag on a runner at home trying to score on a fly ball to right. Made a throw from his knees to throw out a runner trying to steal second, and after hitting the ball hard all game, got his first hit on a line drive to left field.
Getting to see him in person and watch some tape on him with his fantastic offensive traits and improving defense, I have very little doubt in my mind that Alvarez is going to be a star in Queens. Since we live in a world where everyone needs a player comp, I’ll give you mine. He reminds me of Salvador Perez on the Kansas City Royals. Hits the ball hard, hits for power, hits for contact, drives in runs, a tough guy to strike out and leadership traits that make him another coach on the field.

Alvarez obviously still has room to grow, he’s still just 19 years old and will need to adjust to increased competition before he goes to Double-A, as he is hitting a slim .167 since joining the Cyclones. However, per Jacob Resnick, Alvarez lead the entire organization in the following categories for the month of May: wRC+ (188), wOBA (.494), OPS (1.050), AVG (.367), OBP (.500) and BB/K (1.67).

Very rarely can you tag a player as “untouchable” when it comes to something like trade pieces, and if I'm the Mets, Alvarez is a guy you deem as untouchable. I think he can be that special, especially once you factor in the importance of the catching position and how rarely you see catchers being offensive threats, I just dont think this is a guy the Mets can give up. The Mets are building a sustainable winning product. Both in Queens and throughout their minor league systems, and Francisco Alvarez is just another piece to that puzzle.