[Déjà Bru]

The local newspaper has been talking this guy up.

The Mets will call up their top prospect — and one of the top prospects in all of baseball — on Friday for the start of their series against Atlanta, sources said Thursday night, ending months of speculation about when or even if the 20-year-old catcher wunderkind would reach the majors this year.

Alvarez’s role over the final six games of the regular season and perhaps in the playoffs “probably” will include at-bats as the designated hitter against lefthanded pitchers, according to a person familiar with the Mets’ plans. That would allow them to use his premier skill: hitting for power, especially against lefties.

Atlanta will start a lefty, Max Fried, in the series opener Friday.
After a slow start upon being promoted to Triple-A Syracuse in early July, then missing about three weeks into September because of an ankle injury, Alvarez got hot at the plate, finishing with a .234 average, .382 OBP and .443 slugging percentage in 45 games at the top minor-league level. Syracuse’s season ended Wednesday.

Those numbers were even better against lefthanders: .315/.424/.595.

Hitting lefties has been a relative struggle for the major-league Mets, particularly at the designated-hitter position. Neither trade-deadline acquisition Darin Ruf nor Mark Vientos, another prospect, have demanded with their play more at-bats in those spots.

The reference to playing in the playoffs is a bit confusing, though. I was under the impression that he would have needed to be on the roster on September 1 for that to be so.

Fly in the ointment?

A primary concern for the Mets: They did not want to risk rushing Alvarez, especially because he plays the most defensively demanding position on the diamond. As advanced as his bat always has been, Alvarez’s abilities as a catcher are far more of a question mark. It isn’t clear whether he’ll be behind the plate at all with McCann and Tomas Nido already on the roster.