Francisco Alvarez/Photo by Allen Greene Photography

The Mets gave Venezuelan catcher Francisco Alvarez a new franchise record $2.7 million bonus for an International signee last July surpassing the record amounts given to Ronny Mauricio (a top 100 prospect) and Amed Rosario. With or without the record bonus, despite having never played in a professional game, the 17-year-old catcher was one of the players who stood out most during Spring Training.

What stands out first with Alvarez is he’s a physical beast, who is built like a catcher. He’s listed at 5’11” with a strong frame (listed at 220 pounds). Standing next to him, you come away marveling at how a 17-year-old could be so muscular. With an impressive build like that, you could see he has real power potential. That power has translated to game power:

The Mets saw enough this spring to have Alvarez skip playing in the Dominican Summer League (as they did with top prospect Ronny Mauricio last year) right to the Gulf Coast League.

Alvarez ripped apart the the GCL, slashing .462/.548/.846 with four doubles, two homers, and 10 RBI in seven games for the Mets. This prompted the Mets to promote Alvarez to the Kingsport Mets of the Appalachian League.

The right-handed hitting Alvarez has held his own there as well in 20 games. He’s hitting .338/.410/.459 with three doubles, two homers, and 8 RBI in 74 plate appearances. He had his 15-game hitting streak snapped on Wednesday night with an extremely rare 0-for-4.

Francisco Alvarez/Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

When Alvarez signed there were concerns about whether or not he would stick behind the plate. I’ve talked to multiple scouts that have seen him play this season and every one of them has came away impressed with his defense. None of them mentioned the potential need to him to change positions, but noted there’s still work to do.

Alvarez worked hard during spring on his framing and blocking behind the plate, both of which have improved since he signed with the Mets a little over a year ago.

The scouts I talked to noted that he has a strong accurate arm and was solid overall with defense behind the plate. One area to keep an eye on is his lateral movement on efforts to block balls.

Overall, his potential plus hit tool combined with already emerging power and improved defense, has Alvarez as one of the Mets best prospects and in the conversation as one of the better catcher prospects in the National League.