All top prospects debut under circumstances that are unfair. If the player starts off slow, they’re a bust. If they have a surprisingly strong performance, they’re the second coming of Ted Williams, which eventually leads to a souring when they prove to be merely human.
In his first two plus seasons in baseball, Francisco Alvarez has suffered through all of this. When he was initially called up in the last week of the 2022 regular season, he looked overmatched in big spots. When he hit 25 home runs and was being praised by the pitching staff for his game calling in 2023, people were projecting a partner for Gary Carter and Mike Piazza on the ‘best Mets catchers of all time’ list.