MLB news: New York Mets, Carlos Correa, Houston Astros
By Kevin Henry
New York Mets rumors: Francisco Alvarez starting season at Triple-A?
According to Mike Puma of The New York Post, there is “a strong chance” the 21-year-old Alvarez, the third-ranked prospect in all of Major League Baseball, could begin the season at Triple-A Syracuse. Starting the season there would allow Alvarez to get more at-bats with Omar Narváez and Tomás Nido projected to hold down the top two catching spots coming out of spring training.
In his article, Puma writes that Mets manager Buck Showalter is still hoping that, even though it is looking likely Alvarez won’t break camp with the Mets, the young catcher still performs at the highest level in spring training to prepare for what the Mets may need from him later in the season.
"“I think he is going to approach it that way,” Showalter said. “You always want players to make you think about ‘What if?’ We look at every possible scenario, whether it’s an injury … there’s ways everybody in camp could make the club if something happened.”"
Alvarez received 12 at-bats with the Mets at the end of the 2022 campaign, hitting a solo home run and striking out in four of those at-bats. He will almost certainly record more at-bats than that in 2023, but it may not start when New York opens the season in Miami against the Marlins on March 30.
You can read all of Puma’s thoughts on the Mets and Alvarez here.