The New York Mets overall had a disappointing 2023 season. One of the few brights spots in that season was rookie catcher Francisco Alvarez.
In his first full season in the major leagues, Alvarez showed glimpses of why he was the Mets No. 1 prospect, heading into 2023.
Offensively, he showed his power in big ways, hitting 25 home runs in 2023. He also showed off his power in big moments, with six of those home runs, were either game-tying or go-ahead homers in the sixth inning or later.
Defensively, he was better than expected, and was a game caller. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander highly praised Alvarez’s game calling skills.
Alvarez certainly has star potential, but there are some improvements that he must make, to get to that level.
One thing he needs to improve as a hitter, is his pitch selection/lowering strikeouts. Alvarez struck out 110 times in 382 at bats last season, which accounted for 26% of his plate appearances. He has struggled with chasing balls out of the strike zone, especially breaking balls. Thus, he batted only .209 in 2023 and has an OPS of only .721.
If Alvarez can lower down on chasing pitches out of the strike zone, he will lower his strikeout totals in 2024 and improve his average, thus making him an even tougher out with his power.
Alvarez is only 22 years old and has done a little better job with the strike zone as the season went on, and the more at bats he has. With more experience, he can only improve on that, and the Mets are looking forward to even bigger things for one of the future hitters of this franchise.
It’s not like a 26.0 K% is a great rate or anything. It’s just that you can sort of live with that if everything else is ok.
To me, he’s got to do better versus LHP. A .171 AVG with a .611 OPS and a .184 BABIP against southpaws – who he should be performing better against, with the platoon advantage – is what’s really hurting him.