Francisco Alvarez’s second stint in the MLB has come a bit earlier than expected. The Mets sent the 21-year-old down to Triple-A Syracuse on March 22 with the goal of improving his defense.
Fast forward two and a half weeks and the top prospect’s name was on the lineup card batting eighth Sunday catching veteran Carlos Carrasco as the Amazins looked to complete a three-game sweep of the Marlins at Citi Field.
However, the backstop wasn’t called upon due to improved abilities behind the dish but because Omar Narvaez was placed on the injured list Thursday with a calf strain and is expected to miss eight to nine weeks.
Alvarez joined fellow top prospects Brett Baty and Mark Vientos in Syracuse, who were also sent to Triple-A to improve on the field. However, the catcher is understanding why he didn’t make the big league club out of spring training.
“The priority, and I think he understands it, is catching,” Buck Showalter said before Sunday’s game. “He’s going to impact the team the most there and whatever we get somewhere else is nice but not a prerequisite.”
With his ability to man the backstop in the big leagues in question, Alvarez does have one thing working for him as he begins his quest to show the Mets he belongs: experience with the pitch clock.
Minor league players got a first look at the newly implemented countdown in 2022 as they served as somewhat guinea pigs to see if the clock could speed the game up — which it has as the average time of games are down from three hours and six minutes last season to two hours and 38 minutes.
“He should be [ahead of the other catchers with the pitch clock],” Showalter said. “In spring early on [minor leaguers] were at an advantage. We saw a lot of people come up in spring training where you could tell who has played with it. It’s a clock that everybody has to get regulated [with] and it’s not going away.
“It’ll be interesting to see how [Alvarez] is with it [Sunday]. But you also have to have two to tango because your pitcher’s got to be with you. I’d love for him to get some experience catching all of our pitchers. So that he can, if something happens, we can go a lot of different directions.”
The one thing that has never been in question is that Alvarez’s bat is ready. MLB pipeline’s No. 4 prospect slashed .260/.374/.511 with 27 homers between Double-A and Triple-A last season earning him a promotion to the big leagues. Alvarez played just five MLB games last season going 2-for-12 with a home run.
The Amazins called on the Venezuelan in their crucial end-of-the-season series against the Braves on Sep. 30 which ultimately was the deciding factor in Atlanta winning the National League East by sweeping the series.
However, staying within himself when the emotions of the game gets high is something the Mets’ skipper is looking for Alvarez to master.
“[He’s] coachable and knew what he didn’t know,” said Showalter. “Like all of the young players, just staying away from those emotional at-bats [is something he needs to improve on] where the crowds on it’s feet or maybe even on the road were the crowds on their feet for their pitcher.
“Like a lot of young players — and veteran players — they get themselves out.”
Alvarez played four games at Triple-A this season before getting the call back up to the show. The slugger is 4-for-16 (.250) with two home runs in the early going.
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