It’s easy to forget how young Francisco Álvarez It is largely because he already has such a veteran presence behind the plate, demonstrating leadership qualities from the day he arrived last year that impressed no less a demanding perfectionist than Max Scherzer.
“Alvy was so into it back there, I didn’t want to disappoint him,” the three-time Cy Young Award winner said after one particular start, in what was the greatest compliment any catcher could ask for.
And now you hear Mets pitchers like Sean Manaea and others talk about how much they missed Alvarez during his IL stint with a torn thumb ligament earlier this season, and you’d think they were talking about Yadier Molina.
“He’s very confident in what he does,” Manaea said after pitching five shutout innings Wednesday’s 12-2 win over the Yankees. “Because of how young he is, you can’t tell the difference between him and someone who’s been there a long time.”
Then you hear a statistic that’s a lightning-fast reminder:
As part of a 3-for-3 night that continued his hot streak and triggered the Mets’ defeat of the Yanks for a two-game sweep in the Subway Series, Alvarez hit the 30th home run of his career.
At 22 this is quite remarkable, but what makes it remarkable is that just Johnny Bank It is Pudge Rodriguez They reached 30 years younger than Alvarez, and they are not only Hall of Famers but also in the conversation as the two most talented catchers in major league history.
Yes, Alvarez is so young and it seems even more significant right now because he appears to be maturing to make a difference with the stick as well as his defense.
Is it a coincidence that the Mets are 11-3 since Alvarez returned from the IL? Considering he’s hitting .415 with a 1.232 OPS during that stretch, probably not.
That said, there’s certainly a lot more to the season’s twist. In fact, it all started while Alvarez was still out, returning to the now-famous players-only gathering on May 29 after the Mets were defeated by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
They are 17-6 since then and the players swear by the changes they demanded of themselves in that meeting, in terms of being more responsible to each other and more committed to having a specific batting approach on a day-to-day basis, very of this in the incitement of JD Martinezthe guy who Pedro Alonso calls him “a wise man at hitting”.
However, it was only in the last week, and especially these last two days, when the Mets defeated the Yankees, whose pitching staff had the best ERA in the majors when this Subway Series began, that their hitting streak seemed to take on a whole. new aura.
It’s not just that the Yankees’ sweep allowed them to get back to .500 for the first time since May 7.
More precisely, in addition to stars like Francisco Lindor It is Brandon Nimmo beginning to produce on a large scale, the emergence of Alvarez and Marcos Vientos It felt like a transformative development.
Vientos’ power raised eyebrows on Tuesday night when he caught Gerrit Cole deep twiceand then it was Alvarez setting the tone on Wednesday night with his home run and double that helped produce an early 7-0 lead.
It’s significant because it offers hope not just for this season, but also for the idea that perhaps the Mets have a championship core after all for 2025 and beyond, something that was also starting to seem like a pipe dream when this team was finding new paths. . miss every day for much of May.
Lindor may always be a polarizing figure, particularly given his $341 million contract, and his slow start to a second straight season was reason enough to question his value, but he’s looked like a superstar shortstop since moving into the starting role. . month ago, hitting .303 with a .908 OPS while playing his usual stellar defense.
Nimmo’s resurgence has been important given his long-term contract, and although Alonso hasn’t warmed up yet, he has contributed enough that it’s easier to make the case for signing him long-term than it was a month ago.
Whatever you want to do with the veteran core, it’s the youth that offers the most reason for optimism. Even beyond Alvarez and Vientos, it is not unreasonable to believe Ronnie Maurício will return from knee surgery to become an important player, whether at third or second base.
And it’s still too early to give up Brett Batyespecially because he is playing the part of a minor league Baby Ruth again since returning to Triple-A. It’s hard to believe that such skill won’t translate to the big league level.
While it hasn’t been a great year for the Mets’ top position players, in part because of injury, that doesn’t mean they still don’t have high ceilings. And scouts lately have been aiming for Ryan Clifford and his growing power at Double-A as the most intriguing prospect to watch.
Finally, the Mets also appear to be poised to produce some high-profile pitching, since Christian Scottwho should return to the Mets soon, as Brandão Sproat, Tidwell Blade, Jonas Tong and others.
For now, though, Alvarez and Vientos in particular are what matter, the two illuminating the prospects of the present and future on an almost daily basis.
More than anything else in the Yankees’ impressive sweep, in fact, it was the big, bad bats of the younger Mets that offered hope that this was more than a Queens winning streak.
