The Mack Report (Oviedo, Alvy, De La Cruz, ARB, WBC)

^{The Mets have another Latin catcher coming across the waters to be assigned this spring to a stateside team.}

 

^{Carlos Oviedo is 18, so I expect his first assignment will be the FCL-Mets. Oviedo’s 2022 stats with the DSL Mets were: 127-AB, 2-HR, 21-RBI, .268/.358/.775. Respectable and above average for a DSL player.}

 

^{Here is a picture of our current top prospect and brute catcher, Francisco Alvarez. The little guy in the pic is Alvy. The giant is Oviedo.} 

^{I always caution falling in love with DSL players. Many of the great ones turned out to be nothing and many of the meh ones blossomed as their careers developed. I have no idea what category Oviedo will fall into but, staring at the picture, it does tend to make you dream.}

^{MLB.com put together a list of each team’s top International prospects and the Mets was quite obvious:} 

^{Mets: Francisco Álvarez, C (No. 1/MLB No. 1)}

^{Even when we update our Top 100 list in a few weeks, you can expect that Álvarez will be the top internationally-signed prospect in our rankings. The 21-year-old backstop’s power is arguably the best in the Minors, as he’s shown with 51 homers over his last two Minor League seasons despite being one of the youngest players everywhere he’s played over that span. His loud contact helps him maintain a healthy average too.  The defense is still a work in progress -- work that wasn’t helped by last year’s right ankle injury -- but at his height, Álvarez could be a top-three offensive catcher in the game, if not top one.}

  

^{The New York Mets finalyzed the James McCann trade by accepting OF Luis De La Cruz from the Baltimore Orioles. The 20-year old LHH 6-2 DLC put up decent numbers for the DSL Orioles last season, hitting .252, 1-HR, 19-RBI, .405-OBP.} 

Register Batting
Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
2021	18	0.1	Orioles 1	DOSL	FRk	BAL	27	94	69	14	14	2	0	1	7	0	1	22	19	.203	.415	.275	.690	19	2	3	0	0	0
2022	19	1.2	Orioles Black	DOSL	FRk	BAL	33	101	86	9	25	5	0	0	12	3	2	10	17	.291	.396	.349	.745	30	0	5	0	0	0
All Levels (2 Seasons)							60	195	155	23	39	7	0	1	19	3	3	32	36	.252	.405	.316	.721	49	2	8	0	0	0

 ^{My hope here is either one of the Mets DSL coaches, or one of the scouts, saw something in this kid during 2022. Either way, the removal of McCann from the roster and allowing a pathway for Alvarez would make a trade for a baseball from the Dead Ball Era worth while.} 

 

^{1B Pete Alonso, RHP Drew Smith, C Tomás Nido, LHP Joey Lucchesi, IF Luis Guillorme, RHP Jeff Brigham, and RHP Elieser Hernández, signed one year deals this week and avoided arbitration. It amazes me that the Mets can’t come to terms with Pete for a long term extension. There is no one on this team that is more Met.}

^{Found something interesting on Twitter this week. 2023 will bring a return of the World Baseball Classic, where players go play for their home country team against the best of the world. Well, the Mets have a ton of players all leaving to play in this classic and basically will be unavailable for the majority of spring training.} 

^{This includes the entire starting Mets infield of Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, and Eduardo Escobar.} 

^{Attention prospect watchers. This will be your time to watch guys like, Brett Baty on third, Ronny Mauricio play second, and possibly, Kevin Parada behind the plate.}