Photo by Ed Delany, 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 this past week:

Francisco Álvarez

2-for-14, 3 R, 2B, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 7 K

After a hot start to the season, Álvarez has cooled off considerably. While we shouldn’t overreact to a player’s slumps, we should monitor the strikeout rate. He struck out in 41.2% of his plate appearances over the past week raising his season strikeout rate to 31.1%. Despite that, there was some good.

If not for the Maine Monster, that is likely another home run for Álvarez. All told, he still has a strong 182 wRC+ so far this season despite being the youngest player in the league.

Brett Baty

5-for-18, 4 R, 2B, 3 BB, HBP, 6 K

Like with Álvarez, we saw some issues with the strikeouts, and we would see Baty thrown out of a game this week for arguing balls and strikes. That said, if this is a down week for Baty, things are really looking good for him.

Baty is still hitting line drives, and he is hitting the ball hard using the whole field. Another note is he is showing more patience at the plate drawing more walks this past week. All told, this week was another positive development for him.

Ronny Mauricio

8-for-14, 5 R, 4 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB, 5 K

Mauricio was on fire this week, and he probably had the best week of any Mets prospect. When Mauricio is going well, this is exactly what he is – an extra base machine putting balls in play.

Things went so well for Mauricio this week that we even saw him draw a walk. His wRC+ on the season is now at 153, which is all the more impressive when you consider he’s one of the youngest players in the league.

Mark Vientos

1-f0r-17, 3B, RBI, 8 K

This was just a week to forget for Vientos. He had appeared to turn a corner the previous week, but this was a step backward. The biggest issue was Vientos striking out 47.1% of the time this week raising his strike out rate to 33.9% of the season. Strikeouts and slow starts were two concerns for Vientos entering this season, and as of right now, those appear to remain as concerns.

The hope for Vientos is the triple in his last game gets him going again. Of note with Vientos, he had a poor first month with Binghamton last season only to take off the rest of the season. On that note, it is far too early to adjudge his season.