OT: Official 2022 NY Mets Season And Post Season Thread

[Doctor Worm]

Every game counts , losing to the Nats who are pitching a guy with 6 ERA matters in April and July just as much as game vs Braves in Mid August.
Double header Saturday down 2 starters

Hasn’t pitched in majors since 2015 …this is all Mets have ??????

This guy is going to start a fight tonight

RJ Alvarez is not the problem. He is a symptom of the problem that has been festering for years.

The answer to your question is YES. From a depth perspective, guys like RJ Alvarez... and Yoan Lopez... and Adonis Medina... and Stephen Nogosek... ARE all the Mets have.

That is the problem.

 

[RUforJERSEY]

We're making Charlie Morton look like Max and Jake

 

[RUforJERSEY]

Bottom line; considering the situation they were pressed into against a home run hitting lineup, the Alvarez and Nogosek duo have held up fairly well. To where I'm putting this one on the hitters. They haven't done jack in this series so far outside of McNeil last night.

 

[Knight Shift]

RJ Alvarez is not the problem. He is a symptom of the problem that has been festering for years.

The answer to your question is YES. From a depth perspective, guys like RJ Alvarez... and Yoan Lopez... and Adonis Medina... and Stephen Nogosek... ARE all the Mets have.

That is the problem.

As a more reasonable voice on this forum, can you give me a brief game summary, including what happened to Walker, why is a guy named Perez catching, and what is/was the problem with RJ Alvarez' pitching? I was on a two hour rescue/collapse call for a car into a building. Nobody hurt. Looks like the Mets are hurting.

 

[BigEastPhil]

RJ Alvarez is not the problem. He is a symptom of the problem that has been festering for years.

The answer to your question is YES. From a depth perspective, guys like RJ Alvarez... and Yoan Lopez... and Adonis Medina... and Stephen Nogosek... ARE all the Mets have.

That is the problem.

Read somewhere that the reason why Cubs traded Robertson to Phillies was that their 25th rated prospect - pitcher - who was traded to Cubs was apparently better than all of our pitching prosects with exception of Matt Allan.

 

[nutfromSEC117]

Walker back spasms covering 1st base
RJ almost hit Acuna and Swanson in the head
Perez good defender , no average but 6 HR in limited PT. Caught Acuna twice at second

 

[shields]

Alvarez has not pitched in majors since 2015. Just knew he would get hit.

 

[Mr Magoo]

Walker back spasms covering 1st base
RJ almost hit Acuna and Swanson in the head
Perez good defender , no average but 6 HR in limited PT. Caught Acuna twice at second

What’s strange is Walker’s average velocity was about 2 miles less than usual before he hurt his back.

 

[RUforJERSEY]

If someone had told me that RJ Alvarez and Stephen Nogosek were gonna give up 3 runs to the Braves across 5 innings I would have said cool, give me a pen so I can sign. But we've now,scored a Miami Marlins like single run across 16 innings in this series up to now.

 

[Knight Shift]

What’s strange is Walker’s average velocity was about 2 miles less than usual before he hurt his back.

Why is that strange? Did Walker catch the back spasms from Cookie? Have we heard about Cookie? Or is it long covid spasms he caught from Nido?

 

[Knight Shift]

Walker back spasms covering 1st base
RJ almost hit Acuna and Swanson in the head
Perez good defender , no average but 6 HR in limited PT. Caught Acuna twice at second

From what scrap heap did we pick up Perez? Was he part of the Vogelbach trade? Why not Mazeika?

I like how RJ rolls against Acuna.

 

[Doctor Worm]

As a more reasonable voice on this forum, can you give me a brief game summary, including what happened to Walker, why is a guy named Perez catching, and what is/was the problem with RJ Alvarez' pitching? I was on a two hour rescue/collapse call for a car into a building. Nobody hurt. Looks like the Mets are hurting.

Thanks for your kind words.

1) Did not see where Walker got hurt and do not know what happened. Someone posted Bask Spasms, which doesn't sound all that terrible, but then it's my MY back.

2) Michael Perez is on the team because Nido is injured. Was acquired from Pittsburgh in a straight cash transaction. I thought Mazeika was next in line, but apparently Perez is better defensively.

3) I think we would have seen Trevor Williams replace Walker, except that with Carrasco's injury the Mets need Williams to start one of the games Saturday.

 

[Knight Shift]

Thanks for your kind words.

1) Did not see where Walker got hurt and do not know what happened. Someone posted Bask Spasms, which doesn't sound all that terrible, but then it's my MY back.

2) Michael Perez is on the team because Nido is injured. Was acquired from Pittsburgh in a straight cash transaction. I thought Mazeika was next in line, but apparently Perez is better defensively.

3) I think we would have seen Trevor Williams replace Walker, except that with Carrasco's injury the Mets need Williams to start one of the games Saturday.

I did not mean to infer others were unreasonable. But even me, the epitome of calm, positivity and patience is SMDH at the last 2 days. But they were on hot streak and bound to cool off.

 

[rurichdog]

As a more reasonable voice on this forum, can you give me a brief game summary, including what happened to Walker, why is a guy named Perez catching, and what is/was the problem with RJ Alvarez' pitching? I was on a two hour rescue/collapse call for a car into a building. Nobody hurt. Looks like the Mets are hurting.

The next rescue/collapse call will be from Citi Field. 😤😤😤

 

[RUforJERSEY]

Braves fans at it again.

 

[rurichdog]

Braves fans at it again.

View embedded media

Sherman didn't starve enough of those bastards

 

[Zak57]

Pipeline did a full MLB re-rank so I'll provide new top 30 tomorrow as I do the farm report.

Overall for MLB Alvarez is 1, Baty 19, Parada 40, and Ramirez 90 for the top 100.

Jett, Mauricio, Vientos, Tidwell, Ziegler, Allan round out our top 10.

 

[nutfromSEC117]

8 thru 16 are RHP except for OF Morbito at 14

Mets Top Prospects

The Official Site of Major League Baseball

www.mlb.com

 

[Zak57]

Ok updated report with the new list. Very surprised Plummer and Lee still on. Guys like Palmer, Senger, Schwartz, Cortes and a few others fell off. Depth looks a bit better with the recent draft but still far away. All the trades the past few years have hurt our upper minor league depth a bit as we're seeing even though we have a strong group ready to all make their debuts soon. If you have any questions let me know.

Can't wait to see Baty tonight. Just saw him play in Somerset last week and he looks the part with the bat. His D isn't great but improving and I think eventually he'll be fine at 3B as he has a good arm and is a reportedly hard worker. Analytics and positioning should help at major league level as well.

August 16 Mets Farm Report (Top 30 prospects per MLB Pipeline)

AVG/OPS or E.R.A (W-L) (S)

1) Francisco Alvarez C (AAA Syracuse) - 0/4, R, BB, 2 K, .168/.693

2) Brett Baty 3B/OF (AAA Syracuse) - Expected to Make MLB Debut Tonight

3) Kevin Parada C (Rookie FCL Mets) - Expected to make Professional debut Friday

4) Alex Ramirez OF (High A Brooklyn) - 0/4, BB, 3 K, .262/.760

5) Jett Williams SS (Rookie FCL Mets) - 1/4, HR(1), R, RBI, 2 K, .286/.909

6) Ronny Mauricio SS (AA Binghamton) - 2/5, HR(22), 2 R, RBI, .247/.756

7) Mark Vientos 1B/3B (AAA Syracuse) - 2/4, HR(20), 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, K, .277/.885

8) Blade Tidwell RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 0 K, 0 HR, 0.00

9) Calvin Ziegler RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - DNP

10) Matt Allan RHP (High A Brooklyn) - Injured; Elbow expected return 2023

11) Mike Vasil RHP (High A Brooklyn) - Injured; Expected return 2022

12) Dominic Hamel RHP (High A Brooklyn) - 4.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 7 K, 0 HR, 2.86, L(4-1)

13) Joel Diaz RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - DNP

14) Nick Morabito OF (Rookie FCL Mets) - 1/3, 2B(1), BB, 2 K, .167/.481

15) Jose Butto RHP (AAA Syracuse) - DNP

16) Junior Santos RHP (High A Brooklyn) - DNP

17) Willy Fanas OF (Rookie DSL Mets 2) - 1/4, K, .258/.630

18) Jacob Reimer 3B (Rookie FCL Mets) - 1/3, R, BB, K, .364/1.280

19) Eric Orze RHP (AAA Syracuse) - Injured; Expected return 2022

20) Jordany Ventura RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - Injured; Expected return 2022

21) Simon Juan OF (Rookie DSL Mets 1) - 1/4, 2B(9), RBI, K, .223/.640

22) Grant Hartwig RHP (AA Binghamton) - DNP

23) Stanley Consuegra OF (High A Brooklyn) - 0/4, .213/.669

24) Khalil Lee OF (AAA Syracuse) - 2/5, R, RBI, 2 K, .206/.683

25) Nick Plummer (AAA Syracuse) - Currently in DFA Status

26) Robert Dominguez RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - Injured; Arm surgery expected return 2023

27) Luis Rodriguez RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - injured; Arm surgery expected return 2023

28) Christian Scott RHP (High A Brooklyn) - DNP

29) Javier Atencio LHP (Rookie FCL Mets) - DNP

30) Keyshawn Askew LHP (High A Brooklyn) - DNP

Non Top 30 Notables

Bryce Montes de Oca RHP (AAA Syracuse) - DNP

Junior Tillen SS (Low A St. Lucie) - 1/4, BB, K, .260/.752

Chase Estep (Low A St. Lucie) - 2/3, 2 R, 2 BB, .389/1.133

Carlos Dominguez OF (Low A St. Lucie) - 1/4, RBI, 2 SB(20), .245/.792

Omar De Los Santos OF (Low A St. Lucie) - 0/5, 2 K, .270/.794

 

[Doctor Worm]

FWIW...

Neither Hector Rodriguez nor Jose Acuna, the two prospects sent to the Reds in the Naquin trade, appear in their Top 30 list.

Nick Zwack, whom the Giants obtained in the Ruf trade, is #30 on their list. Carson Seymour, the other prospect the Giants got, is not listed. Nor is Szapucki, who I think still has rookie status.

Colin Holderman is not listed in the Pirates list, but he may have "graduated" from rookie status. Not sure exactly how that works.

Saul Gonzalez, obtained from the Cubs in the Givens trade, is not listed. However, Pete Crow-Armstrong is their #1.

 

[willisneverrana43]

RJ Alvarez is not the problem. He is a symptom of the problem that has been festering for years.

The answer to your question is YES. From a depth perspective, guys like RJ Alvarez... and Yoan Lopez... and Adonis Medina... and Stephen Nogosek... ARE all the Mets have.

That is the problem.

Bingo, the problem is the level of talent in this system. Until that is revamped, the Mets are trying to buld a team by spending on big free agents (when it doesn't cost them draft picks), trying/hoping to select less expensive but still good free agents (e.g., Marte), and just spending and spending where it helps them. It can get expensive, as it already has and as it will be this off season. But it also has a limit because the Mets simply don't have the depth in their system that others may have, and injuries, misses, or slumps can become problems.

Maybe these recent injuries (really, the important ones are those to the pitching staff) will become serious problems. Maybe not, and maybe the pitchers come back earlier than expected or others show up and do well (Megill, Peterson). But this is the best that the Mets could have hoped for given their system. And it's been a fun year.

 

[Zak57]

FWIW...

Neither Hector Rodriguez nor Jose Acuna, the two prospects sent to the Reds in the Naquin trade, appear in their Top 30 list.

Nick Zwack, whom the Giants obtained in the Ruf trade, is #30 on their list. Carson Seymour, the other prospect the Giants got, is not listed. Nor is Szapucki, who I think still has rookie status.

Colin Holderman is not listed in the Pirates list, but he may have "graduated" from rookie status. Not sure exactly how that works.

Saul Gonzalez, obtained from the Cubs in the Givens trade, is not listed. However, Pete Crow-Armstrong is their #1.

Yup however I will predict that Rodriguez and Acuna will be on Cincy's top 30 at this time next year. They both have some helium.

Zwack will rise a bit and Seymour I think might be back end next year for them at same time next year.

Holderman don't think qualified because of the 45 day roster thing. He has less than 50 IP. He has been solid with Pitt so far throwing up a 1.08 E.R.A. but only in 8 innings. Bad ratio of 5 BB/3 K though.

Gonzalez was a nothing and no one said a peep about that deal. Givens has been horrendous with us. PCA is the biggest loss. He now ranks #31 overall and is considered one of the top defensive CFs in the minors if not the best.

 

[Doctor Worm]

Read somewhere that the reason why Cubs traded Robertson to Phillies was that their 25th rated prospect - pitcher - who was traded to Cubs was apparently better than all of our pitching prosects with exception of Matt Allan.

Ben Brown, the pitcher you are referring to, is now ranked #7 on the Cubs list.

My guess is that Brown shot up the boards this year, and his #25 preseason ranking was a bit stale.

 

[willisneverrana43]

Yup however I will predict that Rodriguez and Acuna will be on Cincy's top 30 at this time next year. They both have some helium.
. . .

Setting aside any discussion about the utlility of these top 30 lists, Is it really a distinction to be on the Reds top 30 list? Is that a system that regularly pumps out high-level major league players, like the Atlanta system. Ranking each system's recruits from 1 to 30 requires ranking great, good, mediocre, bad and horrible systems. The numbers are not fungible. Being ranked, say, 15-30 in some team's system, even 10-30 or 5-30, could mean absolutely nothing.

 

[Zak57]

Setting aside any discussion about the utlility of these top 30 lists, Is it really a distinction to be on the Reds top 30 list? Is that a system that regularly pumps out high-level major league players, like the Atlanta system. Ranking each system's recruits from 1 to 30 requires ranking great, good, mediocre, bad and horrible systems. The numbers are not fungible. Being ranked, say, 15-30 in some team's system, even 10-30 or 5-30, could mean absolutely nothing.

Cincy did just have the NL ROY last year. Castillo a top end SP and Mahle a solid SP. Winker a very good hitting OF. Any team can pump out talent even though some do better than others. Acuna has a big arm so I didn't say where he might be on any list next year. I think mostly everyone understands not all systems are created equally. It's just fun to discuss so if you don't like the lists you should just ignore them.

 

[RUfinally2008]

I have always felt, the minors are mostly for trades, unless it's a total revamp, bringing up more than 2 impact players in any given year is extremally rare.

 

[willisneverrana43]

Cincy did just have the NL ROY last year. Castillo a top end SP and Mahle a solid SP. Winker a very good hitting OF. Any team can pump out talent even though some do better than others. Acuna has a big arm so I didn't say where he might be on any list next year. I think mostly everyone understands not all systems are created equally. It's just fun to discuss so if you don't like the lists you should just ignore them.

I don't see this as establishing any importance to being ranked in the Reds top 30. Are you saying that the Reds have a top system? If on the other hand your point is that anything can happen, well yes that's true.

Oh, and I enjoy the lists that you post, particularly just following the stats of MILB players. But if we're offering opinions on the level or viability of recruits, there's nothing wrong with giving a contrary opinion or adding context.

 

[Zak57]

Yes the Reds are considered to have a top 10 system at this point.

Agree nothing wrong with being contrary but you twist words a bit and get into straw mans. I'll try and explain myself better with each post.

 

[FrankZ]

I’ll avoid the must win post frowned upon here, but a win tonight or tomorrow feels a tad bit important

 

[RUforJERSEY]

Every game counts , losing to the Nats who are pitching a guy with 6 ERA matters in April and July just as much as game vs Braves in Mid August.
Double header Saturday down 2 starters

Hasn’t pitched in majors since 2015 …this is all Mets have ??????

This guy is going to start a fight tonight

All things considered they did their job. Provided some innings and kept us in the game. Which leads me to the biggest problem that's led to losing 3 of the last 5. Friday night(1 run scored). Saturday night(1 run scored), Sunday afternoon(6 runs scored) Monday night(1 run scored) Tuesday night 0 runs scored). If we had scored something last night while the score was 3-0 for several innings we could have then gone to our better relievers before the back end guys broke and gave up the couple of add on runs.

 

[gmay8]

Ok updated report with the new list. Very surprised Plummer and Lee still on. Guys like Palmer, Senger, Schwartz, Cortes and a few others fell off. Depth looks a bit better with the recent draft but still far away. All the trades the past few years have hurt our upper minor league depth a bit as we're seeing even though we have a strong group ready to all make their debuts soon. If you have any questions let me know.

Can't wait to see Baty tonight. Just saw him play in Somerset last week and he looks the part with the bat. His D isn't great but improving and I think eventually he'll be fine at 3B as he has a good arm and is a reportedly hard worker. Analytics and positioning should help at major league level as well.

August 16 Mets Farm Report (Top 30 prospects per MLB Pipeline)

AVG/OPS or E.R.A (W-L) (S)

1) Francisco Alvarez C (AAA Syracuse) - 0/4, R, BB, 2 K, .168/.693

2) Brett Baty 3B/OF (AAA Syracuse) - Expected to Make MLB Debut Tonight

3) Kevin Parada C (Rookie FCL Mets) - Expected to make Professional debut Friday

4) Alex Ramirez OF (High A Brooklyn) - 0/4, BB, 3 K, .262/.760

5) Jett Williams SS (Rookie FCL Mets) - 1/4, HR(1), R, RBI, 2 K, .286/.909

6) Ronny Mauricio SS (AA Binghamton) - 2/5, HR(22), 2 R, RBI, .247/.756

7) Mark Vientos 1B/3B (AAA Syracuse) - 2/4, HR(20), 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, K, .277/.885

8) Blade Tidwell RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 0 K, 0 HR, 0.00

9) Calvin Ziegler RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - DNP

10) Matt Allan RHP (High A Brooklyn) - Injured; Elbow expected return 2023

11) Mike Vasil RHP (High A Brooklyn) - Injured; Expected return 2022

12) Dominic Hamel RHP (High A Brooklyn) - 4.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 7 K, 0 HR, 2.86, L(4-1)

13) Joel Diaz RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - DNP

14) Nick Morabito OF (Rookie FCL Mets) - 1/3, 2B(1), BB, 2 K, .167/.481

15) Jose Butto RHP (AAA Syracuse) - DNP

16) Junior Santos RHP (High A Brooklyn) - DNP

17) Willy Fanas OF (Rookie DSL Mets 2) - 1/4, K, .258/.630

18) Jacob Reimer 3B (Rookie FCL Mets) - 1/3, R, BB, K, .364/1.280

19) Eric Orze RHP (AAA Syracuse) - Injured; Expected return 2022

20) Jordany Ventura RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - Injured; Expected return 2022

21) Simon Juan OF (Rookie DSL Mets 1) - 1/4, 2B(9), RBI, K, .223/.640

22) Grant Hartwig RHP (AA Binghamton) - DNP

23) Stanley Consuegra OF (High A Brooklyn) - 0/4, .213/.669

24) Khalil Lee OF (AAA Syracuse) - 2/5, R, RBI, 2 K, .206/.683

25) Nick Plummer (AAA Syracuse) - Currently in DFA Status

26) Robert Dominguez RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - Injured; Arm surgery expected return 2023

27) Luis Rodriguez RHP (Low A St. Lucie) - injured; Arm surgery expected return 2023

28) Christian Scott RHP (High A Brooklyn) - DNP

29) Javier Atencio LHP (Rookie FCL Mets) - DNP

30) Keyshawn Askew LHP (High A Brooklyn) - DNP

Non Top 30 Notables

Bryce Montes de Oca RHP (AAA Syracuse) - DNP

Junior Tillen SS (Low A St. Lucie) - 1/4, BB, K, .260/.752

Chase Estep (Low A St. Lucie) - 2/3, 2 R, 2 BB, .389/1.133

Carlos Dominguez OF (Low A St. Lucie) - 1/4, RBI, 2 SB(20), .245/.792

Omar De Los Santos OF (Low A St. Lucie) - 0/5, 2 K, .270/.794

I love these posts and effort that goes into it, so thank you. Any idea how many total AAA at bats Alvarez has had? Any concern on his hitting numbers in a bigger sample size than Baty had in AAA?

Baty only had 10 days or so in AAA and hit a ton.... Alvarez is a month or more and has been struggling a bit.

 

[nutfromSEC117]

Alvarez 1-18 last week of games 😳
No multi hit games since AAA promotion

 

[Zak57]

I love these posts and effort that goes into it, so thank you. Any idea how many total AAA at bats Alvarez has had? Any concern on his hitting numbers in a bigger sample size than Baty had in AAA?

Baty only had 10 days or so in AAA and hit a ton.... Alvarez is a month or more and has been struggling a bit.

Yeah Alvarez has 95 ABs in AAA, 120 PA. I'm not yet concerned his BA is so low. We have to remember he's only 20 and at a position that has a lot of other stuff going on so he can't just focus on the bat more so than a 3B. He's still showing some power and a few of his metrics make it seem like he's been a bit unlucky as far as the BA goes. His plate discipline has been just as good as it has been in AA. He has 19 BB to 35 K (36 BB to 71 K in AA) which is impressive and has kept his OBP above .320. The hits will come.

Baty is a few years older than Alvarez so it's not uncommon that he hit his stride and was first to the majors. Something definitely clicked with Baty in June because he took his bat to a new level. Also he had small sample in AAA but didn't hit with any power there. No extra base hits in his week there. He wouldn't be up yet but for all the injuries. He's still a much better bat than Marrero and Escobar at this point.

 

[Zak57]

Alvarez 1-18 last week of games 😳
No multi hit games since AAA promotion

He did have one multi-hit game in AAA on 8/2.

 

[Doctor Worm]

Yeah Alvarez has 95 ABs in AAA, 120 PA. I'm not yet concerned his BA is so low. We have to remember he's only 20 and at a position that has a lot of other stuff going on so he can't just focus on the bat more so than a 3B. He's still showing some power and a few of his metrics make it seem like he's been a bit unlucky as far as the BA goes. His plate discipline has been just as good as it has been in AA. He has 19 BB to 35 K (36 BB to 71 K in AA) which is impressive and has kept his OBP above .320. The hits will come.

Baty is a few years older than Alvarez so it's not uncommon that he hit his stride and was first to the majors. Something definitely clicked with Baty on June because he took his bat to a new level. Also he had small sample in AAA but didn't hit with any power there. No extra base hits in his week there. He wouldn't be up yet but for all the injuries. He's still a much better bat than Marrero and Escobar at this point.

Excellent response. I would add that Alvarez is the youngest player in AAA, and is six years younger than the league average.

Also note that there is a big difference between AA pitching and AAA pitching. In AA, you've got a lot of talented prospects who are still learning how to pitch. Whereas in AAA you've got some older guys, many of whom have MLB experience. They may not quite have MLB talent, but by and large they know how to pitch. Alvarez no doubt is seeing stuff in AAA that he didn't see that much of in AA.

 

[nutfromSEC117]

Missed it
MLB.com has a weird way of showing last 10/30 game logs. No matter if it’s 1 or none he’s not hitting yet.
Excited for Baty tonight
Let’s try and get a few run early and take the lead tonight.

 

[Doctor Worm]

One last note on Alvarez. Not everyone loves him quite as MLB Pipeline (although everyone does love him). One pundit had him as his #8 prospect, and questioned whether he'd ever hit for a high average. Said he might top out at .250, with 30 homers, and a plus throwing arm.

This was the most bearish assessment of Alvarez that I have seen. But I for one would sign up for it right now!

 

[Knight Shift]

One last note on Alvarez. Not everyone loves him quite as MLB Pipeline (although everyone does love him). One pundit had him as his #8 prospect, and questioned whether he'd ever hit for a high average. Said he might top out at .250, with 30 homers, and a plus throwing arm.

This was the most bearish assessment of Alvarez that I have seen. But I for one would sign up for it right now!

Are we talking about R.J. Alvarez here? 🤣 For a guy like me, it can get confusing quickly.

On another note, Braves feelings are quite chippy on Twitter thinking they have slayed King Kong the last two games. Don't want to sound like that wuss pitcher from the Braves or Phillies fans, but Mets are not exactly playing at full strength.
Regardless of our middle relief, 3 hits is not going to win many games?

 

[MadRU]

good article about an interesting bullpen arm in the Mets farm system

https://metsmerizedonline.com/prospect-pulse-bryce-montes-de-oca-hitting-102-mph/

 

[RUforJERSEY]

One last note on Alvarez. Not everyone loves him quite as MLB Pipeline (although everyone does love him). One pundit had him as his #8 prospect, and questioned whether he'd ever hit for a high average. Said he might top out at .250, with 30 homers, and a plus throwing arm.

This was the most bearish assessment of Alvarez that I have seen. But I for one would sign up for it right now!

I would take that all day every day from the catcher.