3 rookies guaranteed to make their debut in 2023

3) NY Mets rookie guaranteed to make his debut in 2023: Francisco Alvarez

We all knew he'd be on this list. Francisco Alvarez has made a dramatic rise through the Mets system and is now not only the number one ranked prospect in this organization, he's the number one overall prospect according to mlb.com.

An elite catching prospect is hard to come by, and it appears the Mets now have two of them with Alvarez and Kevin Parada.

In the 2023 season, I expect James McCann to be on another team while Francisco Alvarez is the Opening Day catcher.

Will this happen? I'm not sure. McCann is still under contract for two seasons after this one. I'm also not positive Alvarez will be on the team on Opening Day. What I do know is at some point in the 2023 season, Francisco Alvarez will take over as the number one catcher in Flushing and I can't wait.

McCann and Tomas Nido are both really solid behind the plate. Nido especially is an elite defensive catcher. The problem is, neither of them can hit at all. McCann has a .515 OPS while Nido has a .534 OPS.

Alvarez has had a hard time adjusting to AAA. Even with that hard adjustment he has a .719 OPS in 32 games. I'm confident if he was called up this season he'd be a much better option offensively than both of the Mets catchers. He's tripled their home run total in 244 fewer at bats.

The 20 year old isn't with the team right now because of his defense. Alvarez still has work to do in that area of the game and doesn't have a perfect bat either.

When he gets more comfortable in AAA, I expect him to take off just like he did in AA. The Mets have no reason to rush him and to their credit they haven't.

Alvarez will provide something the Mets haven't had for years. A quality catcher. His debut will come in 2023, hopefully on Opening Day.