Reese Kaplan -- Surprising Twist to the 2023 Minor League Callups

In the great gambling mecca of Las Vegas there are odds available for many different prospective outcomes.  There are people who like to predict the winners of games, the individual performance objectives for offense, defense, pitchers and base stealers.  There are more than a few of us who have wagered good money on bad instincts regarding their expectations of what might or might not happen.

One of the categories not yet formally made available for betting men and women is still a topic of conversation and debate among the fans of their favorite baseball team.  In the case of the New York Mets, one category and angle to their gambling selves concerns the order of promotion of their top hitting rookies.  

Going into the 2023 season Mets fans and media representative were all anxious to see the newcoming talents of Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos.  (Ronny Mauricio was not yet expected as he's visiting AAA Syracuse for the first time).  

While Baty had arguably the strongest spring training output of any of the top trio and he was only blocked by the highly inconsistent Eduardo Escobar whose preseason was spent more in support of Venezuela during the World Baseball Classic than his employer, everyone was hoping the young lefty slugger was bound for an Opening Day in orange and blue when the Mets played the Marlins.  Everyone was disappointed when the manager and front office jointly decided that Baty needed more seasoning further north. 

 Then he aggravated the same thumb that required surgery last year, so his prospects for a quick promotion took a major hit.

Franciso Alvarez had a relatively short stay in Syracuse in 2022 before making a somewhat surprising late season callup to the majors.  No one was questioning his ability to hit the long ball, but everyone was pretty consistent in their concern for the defensive side of his game.  

He was getting coaching help from the Mets personnel in charge of grooming future players as well as hearing from more experienced major leaguers what he needed to do to polish his game to take it to the next level.  His demotion that would allow him to play every day behind the plate to practice what he'd been taught was pretty much expected.

In the case of Mark Vientos, he was already pushed off the depth chart as a prospective third baseman due to the presences of Eduardo Escobar and Brett Baty.  He worked out a bit at first base while Pete Alonso was also off at the World Baseball Classic, but there is no way he was going to push the All Star run producer off of his home covering first base.  

Vientos also stated he would gladly play the outfield in order to make himself more versatile and valuable to the team.  His demotion after a solid spring was disappointing as it seemed at the time the club more highly valued veteran Darin Ruf than it did the young right handed power hitter.

So in terms of a gambling scenario, the debate among Mets fans became which one of this terrific trio was going to get the first Uber ride to Citifield.  Even after Ruf's release it was a pretty easy bet that Mark Vientos was again an invisible man to the Mets front office.  He was not likely to get the nod.  

Francisco Alvarez had struggles with his bat in Port St. Lucie and needed his defensive game to take a leap forward.  That left the hot hitting Baty as the most likely to receive the first phone call revealing his promotion until he was injured.

With Ruf gone most folks shifted their perspective to Vientos.  He could have taken on the right handed DH duties.  He's had a full season at AAA already an after a brief slow start just as he did at other levels, he adjusted successfully and finished with impressive numbers.  He had finished last season with a .288 average, 24 HRs and 72 RBIs in just 378 ABs.  On paper that made the most sense although the early season struggles might have been exacerbated by being limited to hitting only when southpaws were starting games.

No one was really supporting the notion of a first-out-of-the-gate for catcher Alvarez.  The Mets had signed free agent Omar Narvaez and retained steadily improving Tomas Nido.  Alvarez still wasn't deemed major league ready as a defensive player and although he started off hot with his bat there didn't seem to be a place for him to play regularly.  

Then came the late inning removal of Narvaez for a calf injury that is still being evaluated.  Much to everyone's surprise the announcement was made that Alvarez was taking the first of likely multiple shuttle rides to and from Citifield.  No one is expecting this injury promotion is a long term answer to getting Alvarez into the big league uniform regularly, but it will be nice to see him get a chance to help out even if bettors never put their money on the burly young slugger being the first offensive promotion.