Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez arrived at Mets spring training incredibly early in advance of a season where they both have a chance to make serious noise in the majors.
When it comes to what Baty and Alvarez might be able to provide the Mets, Keith Law of The Athletic has them ranked among 20 prospects who should make the biggest impact this season.
Law has Baty at No. 4, with Alvarez No. 15.
On Baty, Law argues that he's the best bet after Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks to win the National League Rookie of the Year award.
"Baty has a more tentative grip on an everyday job than the others in the top five, although his main competition is Eduardo Escobar, who is already 34 years old and is just a league-average hitter with below-average defense," Law writes. "Baty offers some upside with the stick, as he already hits the ball extremely hard — his exit velocity peaked at 113 mph in his cup of coffee in September — and just needs to get it in the air more, as he did in Double A last season."
It can be argued that the 23-year-old deserves a chance to open the year as the regular third baseman -- or at least the long end of a platoon with Escobar -- but it isn't yet clear how much of an opportunity Baty will get.
As far as Alvarez, manager Buck Showalter recently made it sound like the 21-year-old has a very small chance to make the Opening Day roster.
Alvarez's path to the bigs isn't blocked, but it's complicated by the presence of Omar Narvaez and Tomas Nido at the catching position, and a glut of players who profile as designated hitters -- Daniel Vogelbach, Darin Ruf, and Tommy Pham.
The Mets will not use Alvarez in the majors as a DH only (nor should they, since it would stunt his development defensively), but it could make sense for him to break in as a hybrid catcher/DH.
Writes Law about Alvarez:
"I don’t really see how Álvarez would be any worse [than Narvaez and Nido], even if you think he’s a 40 defender. If he gets 400 plate appearances this year I bet he hits 20 homers. I just don’t think they’re going to give him that much playing time."