The New York Mets have a litany of elite prospects at the top of their farm system but just one made the initial cut for the All-Star Futures Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. To the shock of no one who has kept tabs on the Mets’ farm system this season, catcher Francisco Alvarez made the initial team while Mark Vientos was named to the squad as a replacement. Those two could also be potential call-ups to the big club in the coming weeks, making them the focus of this week’s edition of Minor League Mondays.
The headliner is still Alvarez, who was promoted to AAA Syracuse last week and is 2 for 16 at AAA thus far. The Mets sustained another catching injury at the big league level when James McCann went down with an oblique injury that should sideline him for weeks. Patrick Mazeika got the initial call from Syracuse and should back up Tomas Nido in the short term but if Alvarez can get going offensively over the next week or two he could force the Mets to have a serious conversation about recalling him to at least platoon with Nido.
The other Futures Game rep is Vientos, who has been on a power tear for Syracuse over the past month. Vientos is hitting .251 with 15 home runs and 41 RBIs for Syracuse on the year with 14 of the long balls coming after April. The pop is certainly an appealing attribute for the Mets, who haven’t gotten nearly enough production out of the DH duo of J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith. While both players have warmed up a bit of late neither has delivered much in the power department, an area Vientos could fix by himself if he gets clicking on the big league level.
There is a significant question about whether the time is right for the Mets to push the accelerate button with either player since messing with a prospect’s development can damage their long-term future. The best example of this is former Mets’ farmhand Jarred Kelenic, who was pushed to the major leagues last season by the Seattle Mariners and was overwhelmed by big league pitching. Kelenic is currently stuck in AAA for the Mariners and there hasn’t been a ton of evidence that he is pushing Seattle for a return to the majors.
The pro to pushing Vientos or Alvarez is that their bats are close to big league ready right now, which could enable the Mets to add a spark to a struggling offense that has seen its production drop tremendously since the start of June. The Atlanta Braves caught fire after promoting Michael Harris from AA right to the major leagues and history is littered with success stories of prospects who sparked contenders, including Miguel Cabrera with the 2003 Florida Marlins.
Vientos would certainly appear to be closer than Alvarez since he has spent the whole year with Syracuse while Alvarez has just a half-season of at-bats above A-ball. The one certainty at the moment is that both will be headed to Los Angeles next week to represent the organization in the Futures Game. How fast either prospect comes to Flushing could make a meaningful difference in the Mets’ season.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
