Francisco Álvarez Photo by Ed Delany of MMO
The New York Mets top prospects are a special group, whose progress demands a closer eye during the course of the 2022 season. To wit, here is how each of the top prospects fared in their opening weekend of the season.
Francisco Alvarez
5-for-9, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 K
Alvarez made the jump to Double-A this season, and he already looks ready to go to Triple-A. He was absolutely knocking the cover off the baseball with his having five hits with an exit velocity of 100+ MPH. To put that into context, Mathew Brownstein of MMO notes the Major League roster had nine combined.
Álvarez again!
After going 3-for-5 with a homer in his Double-A debut last night, @mets No. 10 prospect Francisco Álvarez goes yard again today. pic.twitter.com/RuZDWFM5eP
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 9, 2022
Overall, this is as impressive a start as we have seen. Not only is Alvarez racking up the extra base hits, but he is tattooing the ball.
Brett Baty
5-for-14, 2B, HR, RBI, 3 K
Not to be outdone, Baty would impress in his first series of the season. His week would be highlighted by his hitting an opposite field home run in his first at-bat of the season.
🙌🙌 @baty_brett blasts the first Rumble Ponies HR of the season to left field and puts the Ponies up 1-0 in the 1st!#LetsRumble pic.twitter.com/V8orG8R9RZ
— Binghamton Rumble Ponies (@RumblePoniesBB) April 8, 2022
What is even more important is the live drives. Baty entered this season with a problem with his ground ball rate. In this series, half of his batted balls were line drives, and he only hit one ball on the ground. He did this while still utilizing the full field.
Ronny Mauricio
4-for-14, 2B, RBI, 6 K
The average with Mauricio looked good, but he still had an issue with the strikeouts. In fact, he has struck out in 42.9% of his early season at-bats. On the bright side, we have seen what he can do with an extra base hit.
Ronny Mauricio bloops a double down the LF line. Brett Baty goes to third. Luke Ritter just walked to load the bases and that's the day for Hartford's Schilling. @GoYardGoats up 8-4 on Top 5th but @RumblePoniesBB rallying. #MiLB #LGM #Rockies pic.twitter.com/Mc3dKHWfQE
— Scott Greene (@Scotty_Ballgame) April 10, 2022
For Mauricio, we still see the immense talent at play, but we still need to see strides in terms of the plate discipline and plate recognition. It is still very early in the season, and there is more than enough time for him to improve.
Mark Vientos
2-for-15, RBI, 2 BB, 5 K
It has been a slow start for Vientos, who is accustomed to slow starts at the plate. The one real caution with him there is he has struck out more than you would like, which was something that was an issue last year. That said, he’s shown improvement in the field.
Mark Vientos has made two nice plays at third in two innings tonight. He highlights an otherwise bare Syracuse roster prospect-wise. #Mets pic.twitter.com/Hmr2pxF1i8
— Jacob Resnick (@Jacob_Resnick) April 5, 2022
So far, Vientos has made all the plays you expect him to make even if they weren’t nearly as smooth as they should’ve been. He had some highlights mixed in there as well. All told, this is a promising start to the season for him.
