There’s no denying the Mets have a different feel to them when youngster Francisco Alvarez is in the starting lineup.
Whether it’s his high-energy play, his infectious smile, his light-tower power, or his defense, the young backstop brings a whole new element to this group when he’s around.
We saw it when he made his big league debut last season, and we’ve seen it again over the past few days, as the Mets have gotten scorching hot since he made his return from the injured list.
With Tuesday’s thrilling come-from-behind win over the Texas Rangers, New York not only pushed its winning streak to a season-high seven games, but they also improved to an incredible 17-1 in their last 18 games with Alvarez in the lineup.
“It’s always great having him back,” Pete Alonso said. “We definitely missed him. He’s one of those guys who is a workhorse and he’s super talented. He can change the game with his bat and he does a great job behind the plate in all aspects of the game.”
“Is it different when he’s in there? Sure,” Brandon Nimmo added. “He’s just a heck of a competitor and an amazing ballplayer both defensively at catcher and offensively. He loves to compete and he wants the big situations.”
One of those big situations came when the young slugger stepped to the plate facing his former teammate David Robertson with the tying runs on base in the top of the eighth on Tuesday.
Alvarez was badly fooled by a first-pitch breaking ball, but after hanging tough and working the count back full, he laced a game-tying two-run double into the left-center gap to make it a brand new ballgame.
“That was massive,” said Alonso, who later came through with the game-winning hit. “That was a huge at-bat, so clutch battling to a 3-2 count and then lining an absolute laser to left-center. It was a really special at-bat and it really helped us, so that was big time.”
“We’re not even in that situation if he doesn’t come through,” added Nimmo, who launched his second homer in as many days. “He’s unbelievable, he loves and wants those situations. Those types of players are hard to come by, so I think he’s the best and I love him.”
That marked Alvarez’s first extra-base hit since returning from injury, but he’s been settling into a nice little groove at the plate, bumping his average up to .269 after putting together back-to-back three-hit games.
While he told SNY’s Steve Gelbs afterward that he’s happy with how he’s been swinging the bat of late, he added that he'd like to tap into his power a bit more.
Alvarez will look to do just that either in the series finale against the Rangers on Wednesday or when the Mets open a three-game weekend set with the Chicago Cubs on Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.