Rewind 2023: Revisiting My First Baseball Day of the Year

By the end of this week, the World Series will be over and we'll have officially entered the off-season.  So, it's time to start looking back on some images that reflect what I took in during 2023.  
To start, flip the calendar back to March 30th, at Syracuse Mets media day.  The sky and the trees say that we're somewhere between winter and spring.  There's a freshness in the air and promise of games and achievements to come.  Having lost a Wild Card round series the previous fall, the Mets felt close, very close to making a strong run.  While the roster was built around veterans such as Verlander, Scherzer, Alonso and Lindor, some of the organization's top prospects were also knocking at the door.
Especially Francisco Alvarez.  Just 21 and coming off a tremendous minor league season -- that earned a five-game big league debut -- he likely came into spring training expecting to be named the Mets everyday catcher, especially after the veteran James McCann was dealt away last winter.  So starting the season in Syracuse was likely not in his plans.  Yet, here he was, on a chilly day at NBT Bank Stadium and not Citi Field meeting with a few local reporters and not that big New York media contingent.  Francisco's stay in the Salt City wouldn't be long -- after two home runs in four games (and an injury to Omar Narvaez), he was back  to stay in Flushing.  And while his overall offensive line (lowlighted by a .207 batting average) left room for improvement, Alvarez made more positive impressions than negatives and can expect to spend next summer in the City.
 

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