Francisco Alvarez, Photo by Rick Nelson

The 2022 MLB Futures Game will commence at 7 p.m. Saturday evening at Dodger Stadium. Two Mets are slated to participate in the game, with 20-year-old phenom catcher Francisco Álvarez joined by third baseman Mark Vientos as a reserve.

The Futures Game is an annual showcase of baseball’s top up-and-coming talent. The Mets are certainly no strangers to the event. Fans may remember that just last year, the then-teenage Álvarez smashed a home run in his lone Futures Game at-bat.

At the time, Álvarez had yet to play above High-A ball. He’s since gone on to have a monster season for Double-A Binghamton, hitting .277 with a .922 OPS and 18 home runs in 67 games. That earned him a promotion to Triple-A Syracuse, where he’s off to a slow start but has shown impressive plate discipline. He’s also earned the praise of Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom, both of whom he’s caught on their rehab starts.

Three years prior, another Met went deep in the Futures Game whose name might sound familiar: Pete Alonso. Actually, at the time, he still went by Peter. As noted by Michael Mayer below, Alonso set a Statcast record with the angle and velocity of the bomb.

Andres Gimenez also represented the Mets in the 2018 Futures Game. This year, Gimenez is an All-Star for the Cleveland Guardians.

Speaking of Gimenez, his Guardians counterpart Amed Rosario represented the Mets in the 2017 game, batting third and playing shortstop. In 2019, the Mets sent only Anthony Kay, while Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn participated as members of the Mariners. The Mets of course ended up trading Kay in the deal for Marcus Stroman. Trade pieces galore.

In 2013, the Mets had three representatives in Brandon Nimmo, Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero. Nimmo, of course, has since gone on to become the Mets’ everyday leadoff hitter, while Syndergaard is with the Angels. Montero never found consistent success in New York but is having a great season for the Astros.

This year, Álvarez will get another taste of the Futures Game — his second one before he’s even old enough to legally drink. Not only is he the Mets’ consensus top prospect, but he’s risen to the No. 2 prospect in all of baseball.

Vientos is no slouch either, as MLB ranks him the Mets’ No. 5 prospect. The 22-year-old has had a strong season for Triple-A Syracuse despite a slow start to the season, hitting .255/.339/.498 with 16 home runs. He posted a .927 OPS for Binghamton last year. At this point, he’s bubbling very close to the major league level.

Clearly, many participants in the Futures Game go on to make real impacts in the major leagues. Others end up as trade pieces for notable players. Fans should tune in Saturday evening for a glimpse at the talent this first-place Mets team will be adding in the near future.

The game will be aired on Peacock.