Photo by James Farrance

In February, during early camp at Port St. Lucie, Mets top prospect Francisco Álvarez told reporters that his goal for the 2022 season was to make it to the big leagues. Well, he’s done it.

Three months before Álvarez proclaimed that goal, he turned 20 years old. Coming into spring camp, the young catcher didn’t have an at-bat above A-Ball in the Mets system. Those two factors didn’t stop the hard-working phenom from his ultimate goal.

Álvarez started the season as the everyday catcher for the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies and he didn’t waste any time showing off his bat. He homered in his first three Double-A games and finished his first month in higher competition with a .926 OPS.

The numbers for Álvarez dipped a little in May to a .783 OPS, but he was off and running again in June when he slashed .286/.389/.681 with 10 home runs and 24 RBIs for Binghamton. Two more games in July at Double-A and the Mets had seen enough, Álvarez was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse.

Things for Álvarez started a little slow in Triple-A and then he would have a hot few games and then struggle again. Totally normal stuff for a 20-year-old facing Triple-A pitching. Then came the news in August that the Mets prized prospect had an ankle injury. It was first feared that he might need surgery, but thankfully that wasn’t the case and Álvarez was back in action on Sept. 11.

What a September it was for Álvarez in Triple-A. The right-handed power bat hit .362/.483/.596 in 58 plate appearances for Syracuse. He finished the season off by walking exactly twice in each of his last four games and only struck out twice in that span.

For the year, Álvarez hit .260/.374/.511 with 22 doubles, 27 home runs, and 78 RBIs over 112 games. The Mets aren’t going to call up the best prospect in baseball (per MLB Pipeline) to have him sit on the bench so I would expect him in the lineup tonight against left-hander Max Fried.

While Álvarez’s overall numbers are substantial, his slash line of .315/.424/.595 is elite and the Mets have struggled to get production from their designated hitters against lefties all year.

Now that Álvarez is here, the big question everyone wants to know is he postseason eligible. The answer is yes with a slight caveat. He is not on the 40-man roster yet –the Mets have yet to announce any such move– meaning he will have to be an injury replacement to be postseason eligible. Players not on the 40-man roster at the start of September can still be eligible as long as the team has a player who’s been on the injured list for the minimum amount of time and the Mets have several such players.

Of course, we don’t know yet how the Mets plan to use the catcher, however, it’s important to remember that Álvarez caught both Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom in the minor leagues this year during their rehab stints.

The Mets are entering their biggest series of the season and the biggest in quite some time as a franchise and they decided to have the best roster they could by calling up their top prospect. It’s certainly an aggressive move for a team that has World Series aspirations and they hope Álvarez can play a part in getting them there.