New York Mets add top prospects Mauricio, Allan and Alvarez to their player pool

The New York Mets have showed so far in the 2020 season that they are not afraid of calling up a prospect if they feel he is ready to contribute at the major league level. They did it with left-handed pitcher David Peterson and also with infielder Andres Gimenez.

Now, they want their top young players to be in a competitive environment, due to the absence of minor league baseball this year. That is why they announced over the weekend that catcher Francisco Alvarez and pitcher Matthew Allan would join the 60-man player pool, and today, they said that shortstop Ronny Mauricio would be added, as well.

This doesn’t mean that they will play in the major leagues this season. In fact, all three players are considerably far from being ready. However, the New York Mets want them to take reps and practice with players at or near major league-level, as a way to compensate the lack of practice time they would have during a normal minor league season.

Mauricio is only 19 years old but is already considered the Mets’ best prospect and the shortstop of the future. The same could be said of Alvarez and the catching position, and Allan is a 2019 draftee with loads of talent.

The Mets’ skipper explains the decision

Alvarez, a 18-year old backstop, is only 18 years old, while allan, a right-hander, is 19. They will join the Mets’ alternate training site in Brookyln.

“Adding those two guys, it kind of gives us that balance in our depth; adding the arm, adding the catcher, two of our biggest prospects,” manager Luis Rojas said to MLB.com about Alvarez and Allan over the weekend. “For them to come in and be in an environment when there’s competition at a great level — we have some great veterans, guys with experience at that site, and they can have that competition created there for their development.”

“We created the pool with a lot of guys that have Major League experience,” Rojas said. “It’s a built-to-win team; that was the theme that the whole pool was made of. … As we move forward and we have some of that room, we can definitely make decisions like this and bring some other guys to take advantage of the situation. Those two guys added to the pool, they can definitely help us win games, too, so it’s a win-win.”