Álvarez, Lee Named to MLB Pipeline’s Prospects of the Year Second Team

With the season very quickly coming to an end, MLB Pipeline released their Prospect Team of the Year for the 2021 season on Tuesday afternoon. While no Mets prospects were named to the first team, a pair of sluggers from the organization made the second team.

Catcher Francisco Álvarez and outfielder Khalil Lee put together strong enough seasons to end up on the list for the second team.

Álvarez, the 19-year old superstar catching prospect, was also recently named the organization’s position player of the year. His strong season has helped him jump up to as high as the #10 overall prospect in all of baseball on some rankings.

Álvarez began the year with the St. Lucie Mets, but didn’t stay long. After just 15 games he was tearing the cover off the ball, teams even stopped pitching to him, and he was promoted to High-A Brooklyn.

He continued his success in Brooklyn, putting both his offense and his defense on display. Over 99 games on the season, Álvarez led all Mets minor leaguers in RBI (70), extra-base hits (43), and slugging percentage (.538), and is tied for first with 24 homers.

He was selected to participate in the All-Star Futures Game, and he shined on the biggest stage, cracking a pinch-hit homer. The future is beyond bright for Álvarez, as he has very quickly developed into one of the best prospects in all of baseball.

Khalil Lee also put together an extremely impressive first season in the Mets organization.

When the Mets were battling their injury troubles, Lee received a cup of coffee at the big league level, and looked completely overmatched.

He was ultimately sent back down to Syracuse when the regulars returned to the lineup. From that point on, Lee turned things around and looked like a completely different hitter at the plate.

Over 99 games on the season, Lee has 13 homers and 20 doubles, he’s also posted a .945 OPS, 161 wRC+, 18.5 BB%, and a stellar .449 on-base percentage.

To go along with his big-time power, Lee also has some great speed and a terrific glove. If he can carry this success over, the 22-year old certainly has a shot at cracking the big league level again at some point next season.