Okay...
We now move into a series I love doing every off-season. It is my own, personal, no-holds-barred analysis of each position in the chain, including who is on the parent squad. It ends with my current rating for this position.
Normally, I do this after the season is over, but for some stupid arse reason, I booked this series a week early, so I will be using stats here that are still going on. Yes, I am too lazy to change the booking dates. It's been that kind of a season for me.
The first position we will look at is catcher. The stats used are through 9/19.
The parent squad has 24/year old Francisco Alvarez (.229) and 30/year old Luiz Torrens (.242). They have combined this year for 25 home runs and 80 runs batted in. Torrens has proven to be one of the top defensive catchers in the game and Alvarez came close to a totally healthy season. Lastly, Torrens is under contract through 2028 and Alvy won't be eligible for free agency until 2023.
On the surface, one would say we should move on here, but that's not how this works. In the past, I have used a batting average of .250 as the minimally accepted level for a ballplayer. Lastly, it's hard to find more than a couple of handfuls of batters hitting above .300, so I have dropped that low bar to .240. Still, Alvarez is far below this minimal standard while, at the same time, he isn't even hitting 20 homers a season. This is far from acceptable for a 'major league power hitter', so we have to keep looking for an alternative here.
Torrens will always give you top defense, and the pitchers love him, but unless you are just willing to yield his bat here, he offers nothing more than a great backup and unday regular.
Currently, I only have one RED PROSPECT catcher on this team and that is A/St. Lucie's Yovanny Rodriguez. Rodriquez played 2026 as a 19/year old, so he's raw at best. He hit a combined 13/HR and 49/RBIs for the FCL Mets and St. Lucie but is currently only hitting .225 in A-ball after hitting .280 a level lower. Y-Rod signed on 1-15-2024 for $2.85 signing bonus and comes with all the bells and whistles bonus babies like this come with. I consider him special, but I also don't consider him MLB ready for, at least, three more seasons.
I have five BLUE PROSPECT catchers in the chain.
AAA/Syracuse Kevin Parada has worked his way back into being relevant at the AAA level (.310), still a head scratcher since he hit so miserable in Binghamton (.229). The 25/year old former first round pick has sort of lost his pop along the way, but, according to Mets writers here, he has found his misplaced Winchester rifle arm. For these reasons alone, he's back on the chalkboard and hopefully, hitting coaches can find a balance of renewed swing angles while holding his newly found BA ability. For me, he's my current go-to option if Alvarez goes down with another injury.
AA/Binghamton Chris Suero has the most diversity of all the catchers on this team. He has regularly played behind the plate, on first, and in left and has recently taken on centerfield as well. The 22/year old played the entire 2026 season for Binghamton and, though he hit 18-HR/51-RBI, 80-BB here, his 145-K and .201/BA did nothing to support anyone's case of promoting him to Syracuse. In one work 2026 was disappointing.
Speaking of disappointments, normally I would be telling you that A+ Brooklyn Ronald Hernandez was frozen behind Suero, but he did nothing to push the issue. Yes, the 22/year old hit 10-HR and knock in 50, but he hit only .205. Another sub-par effort from a former high $ bonus baby.
A-St. Lucie Julio Zayas is a 20-year-old Dominican prospect that played the entire season for St. Lucie. 357-AB, 107-K, 11-HR, 57-RBI, 54-BB, .238/.340/.367/.707. Not the best stats, but a lot better than some of the international bonus babies listed in this post. What Zayas needs to do is gorilla himself into a starting role in 2027. Somewhere.
Lastly, DSL Mets Frank Moreno is only 17, so who cares what he has done so far, right? Well, not true if you hit .264 in the DSL league. Anywhere else, that's a respectable level. Down there, this is all-star material. He also had only 25 strikeouts in 125-AB, while walking 19 times. I've got him opening up in Florida next spring for the FCL team.
Past this, there's a bunch a steak-knives, among which are AAA-Hayden Senger, AA-Vincent Perozo, A+ Daiverson Guilterrez, A-Ryan Tayman, FCL-Jacob Madrid.
There are other names, but none worth mentioning.
My spin - I was so excited last year at this time about the depth of catcher talent on this team. Frankly, the list of players hasn't changed. They simply haven't panned out, which just gives more fodder to my previous statements on giving players 100 regular at-bats to determine their initial value. Most of these 'prospects' had 400+ at-bats this season. some for only one team. Things should have developed better.
Right now, the major league starter isn't carrying his weight, nor is anyone else in this chain. The most exciting catcher has been Torrens. The next is a Syracuse catcher that used to have the most catcher in the system but now doesn't.
The Mets can't wait for Y-Rod to become A-Rod. They need a real major league catcher.
Rating - F
6 comments:
Tayman’s St Lucie sample in his debut season this year was impressive: .316/.432/.579 in 95 plate appearances. Weak FSL pitching. We will see how he does next year as a righty bat in BROOKLYN.
The Mets’ catchers, with Torrens and Alvarez, were right around league median in RBIs and average, and 8th in HRs (while catching). So, you could do worse. Three teams had team catcher averages ranging from .170 to .196.
I’d say that Alvarez and Piazza power are similar. I wonder if Iron Mike spoke to him about how to be a more successful hitter if it would help.
Alvarez couldn't carry Mike's gym bag.
His swing is horrible. It luckily makes contact once in awhile and his brute strength takes over
This just in:
Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong, with 45 home runs, punctuated his case for National League Most Valuable Player as he joined the exclusive 40-40 club after swiping his 40th base of the campaign.
After drawing a lead-off walk in the bottom of the first inning, Crow-Armstrong wasted no time taking off for second base, easily beating catcher Brian Navarreto’s throw as the Wrigley Field crowd erupted in celebration.
F grade is a little strong.. I agree with both Tom and Mack which is hard to do since they hold opposing views :-). The catching duo performed at the Median offensively; and probably defensively as well. But the latter is misleading because the range between them was so great: Torrens near the top; Alvarez near the bottom. When you are building the team around top flight pitching, the main things you want from your lead catcher is defense, professionalism and game calling strategy. We have that in Torrens, and unlikely to ever have it in Alvarez. It's fair to saythat none of the prospect atcatcher in the minors distinguished themselves this year, so we are in a waiting game on that.
It's also fair to say that this is not our strongest position group.
As far as Piazza being able to help Alvarez, I wouldn't hold my breath. Piazza had a Jim Rice like swing; incredibly good use of the ground, fluid sequencing and a compact swing with zero unnecessary movements or compensations. That is a movement pattern that you should look at next to Alvarez's which features everything that is the negation of what Piazza does.
If the Mets keep him they have to send him to someone who can change his movement pattern, and he still won't be anything more that a marginal defensive catcher
You put a PCA comment on MY catcher post?
Cruel
Alvarez won't follow instructions
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