Francisco Alvarez is one of the top prospects in baseball and likely the Mets' catcher of the future – but with Omar Narvaez in Queens on a two-year deal and Tomas Nido entrenched as the backup, Alvarez might see most of his action in 2023 in Triple-A.
Maybe disappointing for a player who got his first taste of the Majors last season, but it's all part of the plan, according to Mets skipper Buck Showalter.
"Just another step in his process," Showalter said Friday at Mets camp. "He made it up in the big leagues for a short stint and fought through some injuries. He's getting more stripes on his arm, and at some point, he will get an opportunity."
That's why, Showalter said, he encouraged Alvarez to come to camp as if he's battling for a job.
"I think he's going to approach it that way," Showalter said. "It's too early, but you always want players to make you think about what if. We look at every possible scenario…there's ways that just about everybody in camp could make the team if something happened. We know Omar and Nido are going to be our two catchers. We'll see where Francisco fits in that mix."
Alvarez's bat has always been his carrying tool, but there's still some work to do defensively – and as GM Billy Eppler reiterated this week, growth is about more than just checking boxes.
"You want to make sure that you test them, and you want to really feel good about a player kind of satisfying those development objectives, kind of satisfying the performance and then all of that development criteria before you bring them up to the big leagues," Eppler said of the Mets' mindset with top prospects like Alvarez and Brett Baty. "We preach a lot of growth mindset around the organization, and that means you're constantly learning and growing and adapting. Those guys took things with them in that experience last year and we'll see how it plays out this spring. I'm excited to watch them do their thing."
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