Anthony Volpe and Francisco Alvarez have had remarkably similar career trajectories.
Born about seven months apart in 2001, they were both signed by their teams to deals worth roughly $2.7 million and played roughly the same number of games in the minors (275 for Volpe and 263 for Alvarez).
They emerged as key contributors in 2023. Volpe won the Yankees starting shortstop job out of spring training and made his MLB debut on Opening Day. Alvarez took over behind the plate for the Mets full-time just over a week into last season.
And each had an up-and-down rookie season: Volpe showed some unexpected power with 21 homers, but too many strikeouts (167, or 27.8 percent of his plate appearances). Alvarez hit 25 home runs of his own, but — like Volpe — whiffed a ton (26 percent strikeout rate) and was inconsistent. Volpe had a terrific August before fading badly in the final month of the regular season. Alvarez had his worst month of last season in August and finished well.
