Buck Showalter Touches on Plan for Francisco Alvarez
Waiting in the wings.
On Friday at the Mets' spring training facility in Port St. Lucie, FLA., manager Buck Showalter talked about top prospect catcher Francisco Alvarez's development.
“Just another step in his process,” Showalter told reporters. “He made it up in the big leagues for a short stint and fought through some injuries. He’s getting more stripes on his arm.”
With Alvarez looking to assert himself into the mix with fellow catchers Tomas Nido and Omar Narvaez, he will have a chance to prove himself in big-league camp this spring.
“At some point, he will get an opportunity,” Showalter added.
Although Nido and Narvaez are ahead of Alvarez on the depth chart, Showalter wants the top prospect to approach things as if he is fighting for a spot on the Opening Day roster.
“I think he’s going to approach it that way,” the manager said. “We look at every possible scenario. There’s ways that just about everybody in camp could make the team if something happened. We know Omar [Narvaez] and [Tomas] Nido are going to be our two catchers. We’ll see where Francisco fits in that mix.”
In addition to Alvarez, top prospect Brett Baty is competing for the third base job in the big-leagues during camp.
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