Mets' Francisco Alvarez: Working through Triple-A struggles
Alvarez went 2-for-3 with a homer, two walks, three RBI and two runs in his most recent game for Triple-A Syracuse, but he's still hitting just .179/.340/.375 in 32 games since his promotion.
The 20-year-old backstop has seen his power stroke show up only in fits and starts at the highest level of the minors, as Tuesday's long ball snapped a stretch of 11 straight games without any extra-base hits. That said, while his overall stat line with Syracuse is ugly, there are some positives to be found in it. Alvarez has a .209 BABIP in Triple-A that's bound for positive regression, and while his strikeout rate has climbed to an uncomfortable 28.4 percent (from 24 percent in Double-A this year), his walk rate has also spiked to 17.6 percent (from 12.5). It's also worth remembering that Alvarez is exceptionally young for a catching prospect on the doorstep of the major leagues -- for one illustrative example, when Orioles stud rookie backstop Adley Rutschman was Alvarez's age, he was still playing college ball.
