Francisco Alvarez was expected to be at Triple-A Syracuse at this point in the season, before Omar Narvaez went down with a strained calf earlier this month.
So his early struggles at the plate shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
In his first four games since being called up in the wake of Narvaez’s injury, the Mets’ top prospect went just 1-for-15 with no walks, six strikeouts and no extra base hits.
His performance over his last three games has been more encouraging — and no great shock considering he’s playing a bit more often and getting more accustomed to major league pitching.
The 21-year-old has three hits in his last 12 at-bats, including his first homer of the season in Sunday’s loss in San Francisco.
He has shown flashes of what made Alvarez considered the top overall prospect heading into the season, as well as the inexperience that led the Mets to sign Narvaez this past offseason to split time with Tomas Nido behind the plate.
The homer on Sunday came on a slider from San Francisco’s sidearming right-hander Tyler Rogers.
It’s Alvarez’s lone hit off a breaking ball this season, according to Statcast and came on a day in which he had the hardest-hit ball of the afternoon, a 110.5 MPH grounder in the second inning that resulted in a routine double-play ball to shortstop.
The Mets would like for Alvarez’s bat to make up for some of his defensive deficiencies that he’s working to improve on.
Manager Buck Showalter has said even with Narvaez is out, he’ll lean heavily on whatever gives them the best chance to win — rather than focus on Alvarez’s development.
“He still hasn’t played much — at any level — yet,” said one NL scout who saw him earlier in the month. “Not just the majors. So he’s still got a lot of adjusting to do to get used to the game. But he’s shown he’s a fast learner and you can see the talent. Some of what he’s going through now on both sides is bound to happen because he hasn’t played a ton of games.”
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To the scout’s point, Alvarez played just 42 games after signing in 2019 and then had what would have been his first full pro season wiped out by COVID in 2020.
After starting in Low-A in 2021, he made it to the majors by the end of last season, which is an unusually fast track.
He has still played in just 270 professional games, including 13 in the majors
“There are going to be pitfalls when you move that quick, but they think he has the tools to do it,’’ the scout said. “You can see them.”
As of Monday, the Mets had not listed a starter for Tuesday’s series-opener against Washington at Citi Field.
Max Scherzer would have been in line to take the mound, but he’s in the midst of serving his 10-game suspension for violating MLB’s rules on foreign substances.
If the Mets don’t go with a bullpen game, they would need to place a player on the injured list in order to recall Jose Butto from Triple-A Syracuse.
Butto was optioned to Syracuse last Monday and can’t return within 15 days unless the corresponding roster move is for a player placed on the IL.
