Eppler: With depth at most positions, no need to rush top prospects until defense is ready
PORT ST. LUCIE — Three of the Mets’ top prospects are nearly ready for the Major Leagues, but being nearly ready isn’t good enough to crack the Opening Day roster.
Gone are the days when the club might have given a talented young prospect a shot after a good showing at camp. The Mets don’t have any holes to plug anymore with depth at nearly every position in 2023. This edition of spring training features maybe one or two position battles. There’s a spot or two up for grabs in the bullpen and some configuring of the starting lineup.
That doesn’t leave much room for third basemen Brett Baty and Mark Vientos and catcher Francisco Alvarez. There was some speculation that Alvarez would be carried on the Major League roster this season as a DH to give the Mets some pop against left-handed pitching, but the Mets have quietly tamped down on that narrative in recent weeks, stressing that his play behind the plate needs to be at a certain level before calling him up again.
The idea of Alvarez DH’ing was put to rest Saturday by general manager Billy Eppler.
“We want to wait for the complete package to be there,” Eppler said after the Mets’ workout at Clover Field. “If Francisco is on our club, if he makes our team, or if he shows up, we want to make sure he can catch because the long-term trajectory for this young man is to be able to catch. We have to be able to satisfy that up here, so it would not be a pure DH situation.”
There are extenuating circumstances, such as injuries to catchers like Tomas Nido or Omar Narvaez, or if there is an injury later in the season that doesn’t allow the 21-year-old Alvarez to catch but still allows him to hit.
It’s the same situation with Baty and Vientos as well — the two need to show certain defensive improvements. All three spent time in the Major Leagues last season and while the sample sizes were small, there were elements they lacked defensively.
“You’ve got to play defense here. Got to play defense. We have a big ballpark,” Eppler said. “I think that was probably demonstrated last year by some of the personnel decisions that we made. Defense is important — it’s critical. I think, if we’re going to play championship-caliber baseball, we have to be great in all areas.”
The reports that manager Buck Showalter has gotten from infield coach Joey Cora, infield