Tom Brennan: Alvarez Rookie Campaign; Rule 5 Draft; Yamamoto & Soto

 

Looking fervently for the level of success of one Francisco Alvarez

Francisco Alvarez (nicknamed TROLL) had a muted rookie batting average.

His power is anything but muted. (Troll trounced Vlad in a recent HR derby in Puerto Rico, as one example.)

Why was his average so low? 

An unusually and very low .223 BABIP - that has GOT to improve in 2024, a lot, wouldn’t you imagine?

Strikeouts not bad, at 0.9 per game, and his walk total of 34 is close to 3 walks every 10 games. Which is not shabby.

Just .180 after the All Star break. He will have to figure that out, right?

He will. Trolls figure stuff out.

His .245 with runners in scoring position ain’t bad.

Piazza has the MLB HR record for rookie catchers but…

1) he was 3 years older as a rookie than rookie Alvarez and 

2) Mike played a lot more games as a rookie. 

At Alvarez’s age, Piazza was only in High A, and hit just 6 HRs in 285 plate appearances.  There is a big difference in growth in those 3 additional years. 

Trust me…we have not seen the best of Alvarez, the Troll who just turned 22 in mid-November.

I can’t wait to see HIM in 3 years.

Catching? He is defensively doing a lot better than his critics anticipated. 

Why?  Sheer drive, and determination to get better, to improve, to be the best.

Which often separates the men from the boys.

Young star prospect Jett Williams? 

He has the same internal fireball in his kishkes. 

He’ll be at Citifield some time next year, I’m betting.

Back, though, to Alvarez. 

My guess? 

We ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.

Of course, he wasn’t baseball’s top rookie catcher. Jim Callis noted this: 

“ Yainer Diaz, Astros: Only 2 rookie catchers in the past 30 seasons had 300 plate appearances and a higher OPS+ than Diaz's 128: Buster Posey in 2010 (133) and Adley Rutschman in 2022 (131).”

But….Diaz is 25, Alvarez just 21. Enormous age difference. 

At age 21, Diaz was in low A ball. Hitting with a lot less power than Alvarez did this year.

Nah, Diaz is good, real good, in fact...but I’ll stick with our guy: 

Francisco the "Troll" Alvarez. Our Troll.

RULE 5 DRAFT:

The Mets selected RHP Justin Slaten (TEX). He was promptly traded to BOSTON for LHP Ryan Ammons). The Mets system is thin on lefties, and hopefully Ammons will become a good Mets pen arm in a few years.

Ammons was a 10th round selection this year by Boston, having pitched for Clemson. A college reliever, he threw 70 college innings, fanned 107, and had a 3.58 ERA and 1.19 WHIP.The net says he became Clemson’s “closer in 2022, then was a starter to begin the 2023 season, but suffered an injury that set him back; he then returned to the back end of the bullpen in 2023.” Pro innings? None yet.

The Yanks meanwhile lost THREE pitchers in Rule 5. Only 10 players were drafted overall.

The Mets lost no one, which perhaps tells us something about the players the Mets failed to protect.

THE RACE FOR FREE AGENT TALENT:

Steve Cohen and David Stearns flew to Japan to meet with Mr. Yamamoto, hopefully swaying him to sign with the New York Mets. The Yanks meanwhile have an overt case of “Oto Lust”, targeting both Yamamoto and Juan Soto. 

May the Mets prevail over the Bronx Bumblers for the future services of Mr. Yamamoto.

(Warning: a WFAN Facebook page showed this heading: “The Yankees are reportedly telling people they are "way ahead" of the pack in the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes.” Good grief, Mets fans.)

 The great Juan Soto? 

I read this on MLB.com:

“After their trade talks with the Padres briefly stalled, the Yankees are now considered "very likely" to pull off a deal that would pair Juan Soto with Aaron Judge in their lineup next year, according to a source.” It now appears, late Wednesday, that the deal is complete.  A new Bronx Mega-Bomber. Yanks gave up a bunch of prospects. 

Mets sit it out…it is what the Mets do…they spent too much money on old timers Verlander and Scherzer. Should have skipped Verlander and saved the ducats for Soto.

That will have opposing pitchers soiling their uniforms, should it happen.

Moving on, Mr. Stearns also has said he wants to address his 3rd base issue in-house, presumably considering a battle for the spot between Baty, Vientos, and Mauricio, who is a rip-roaring 9 for 17 in Winter Ball (yay), with 4 third base errors in 3 third base games (boo). 

What is with Ronny and errors, anyway? Already 133 errors in the minors and winter ball, but just one error in his 26 Mets games. Must be the better field crews grooming the fields in the majors. No bad hops. He’s clearly had 133 bad hops below the major league level.

Hopefully by this time next week, the Mets will have struck free agent gold. BUT…so far, the Mets are losing. Yanks got SOTO, for Pete sake.

VIC DAVILILLO PASSES AWAY AT AGE 84

The diminutive Davilillo played 16 seasons in the majors.  RIP.