Mets could call up top prospect Francisco Alvarez before season ends?

While speaking in July before the MLB All-Star break and less than a whole month before the trade deadline, New York Mets team president Sandy Alderson said that catcher and top-tier prospect Francisco Alvarez was "not an immediate option" for the big-league club, largely because Alvarez had just recently been promoted to Triple-A Syracuse. 

Since Alderson's comments, the Mets have acquired designated hitter options Daniel Vogelbach, Tyler Naquin, and Darin Ruf. However, it appears those moves haven't completely eliminated any possibility that Alvarez could feature for the Mets ahead of catchers James McCann and Tomas Nido this year. 

According to Danny Abriano of SNY, Mets general manager Billy Eppler teased during an appearance on New York sports radio station WFAN that Alvarez could see some home at-bats at Citi Field before September ends.

"In the immediate future, we're not gonna be calling him up. But are we sending evaluators through there, and do I get debriefs from our coordinators that go through there? Yep, absolutely," Eppler explained. "Are we watching him close? We're watching him close. We're watching everybody in that Syracuse lineup very closely, because that's our group."

Alvarez struggled in his early days with Syracuse and is currently slashing .185/.353/.431. However, Abriano notes that the 20-year-old has notched four home runs and three doubles and also hit safely nine times across his last 11 games. 

Eppler wouldn't comment on if Alvarez would be used only as a DH for the big-league Mets or if he could catch before the campaign ends. 

"He's doing both right now and he's checking boxes," Eppler said. "Kind of some of the development objectives that we laid out for him before even moving him to Triple-A. He's getting there and he's holding up his end of the bargain and working towards it. Never say never." 

The first-place Mets held a four-and-a-half-game lead over the second-place Atlanta Braves ahead of Friday's matchup between the National League East clubs in Queens.