So yeah, another Francisco makes it feel even more like we've been down this road. It's hard to develop MLB starting catchers. At least part of that is something that's hard to teach. Have a guy who can show up ,and either through the charisma of Piazza or the red-ass of Grote, impress upon everybody that he's calling the shots, and he says go fuck yourself if you don't see it that way, even if he's 23 and hitting .220.
The caste system of today's game makes it hard for a young guy to just show up and step in like that. Butera and Peña, both being sons of longtime big-leaguers, would seemingly be as good as any to land like that, but neither had the offense to escape backup status even after they left the Mets.
So, having the juice to take charge among players with stature and tenure seemingly being a prerequisite of the job, the 21st Century Mets have been modestly more successful importing vets (Lo Duca, Buck, Buffalo) who can arrive as equals. Also, the ones who stick are the ones who find away to take the punishment four days in five and not let their bat fall into a black hole. No small matter even for the guys who hit in the minors. Catching's tough.
So, yeah, that's a long-winded way of saying it's really stupid to pin my hopes on young Francisco Alvarez. But he needed a home, and I found a place in my heart. He's still but a teenager, but he already has the catcherly frame (officially 5''11" and 220) that Travis d'Arnaud was never going to have. He was pushed so obscenely hard in his rookie year, skipping the DSL and going straight to stateside at only 17 with the GCL Mets, that you would have expected him to take his lumps and take them repeatedly. Instead, he fucking toyed with the league, hitting .462 / .548 / .846 / 1.395 in his first seven games, with two homers.
Look at those numbers and try not to drool. The Mets, amazingly, looked at him and said, "Fuck it, let's push him harder," and sent him to the Appy League. He took a few games to get going, but even there, as the very youngest player in the league, he pushed people around, copied their homework, stole their lunch money, and stepped on all their blue suede shoes, and simply gave not a single shit. He hit .282 / .377 / .443 / .820 with five more home runs in 35 games.
Did I mention that he was the only 17-year-old in the league? I don't think I did, but I alluded to it. Implied it.
it was a sorry situation. All the girls swooned and all the guys felt like shit because their girls all looked at them in a new light. A yellowy light. Like they were suddenly all defective giveaways and Francisco was the only prize to be had. Alvarez didn't give a shit. He didn't even take advantage of his newfound popularity with the ladies. He was too busy passing through Kingsport to even get anything started. All the guys hated him but respected him, and at the end of the day, he invited anybody who had a problem to meet him at the flagpole, and nobody would ever, ever show.
So yeah, eyes were on him. God knows how anybody's going to track minor leaguers this season, but Keith Law, Rany Jazayerli, and Casey Kasem's ghost all saw him moving toward their Hot 100s. Would the Mets have stayed aggressive and had him bypass Brooklyn to send him on to full season ball? God help me, but I think they would have. Look at him turn on this pitch:
Look at the catcher's glove and see how inside that pitch is, but like the David Wright worshipper I'm raising this guy to be, he keeps his hands in tight, and is quick through the zone.
And let's turn out the lights and get a little pornagraphic here. Tell me those aren't the legs of a major league catcher. Tell me that isn't the ass of a major league catcher. He's years from the big leagues and there are no big leagues any way this year, and certainly no All-Star team, but that ass is already a Major League All Star.
So get out of here with your crappy adoptees. Your relief pitchers and toolsy infielders. Yeah, they may make it to the bigs someday, but when they get there, it'll be Francisco Alvarez calling the shots.
