The Mets’ season turnaround in less than a month has undoubtedly been a team effort. Very few teams can rip off a 17-6 run to go from 22-33 to 39-39 on the back of just one or two players. However, that didn’t stop president of baseball operations David Stearns from giving Francisco Alvarez his flowers on Friday for what he’s meant to the club.
Answering a question about who has been the catalyst for New York during this impressive run it’s currently on, Stearns shouted out the young catcher who missed six weeks with a thumb injury this season.
“I think looking at Alvy’s impact on the team is something that we all see,” Stearns said. “We see it in how we’ve played when he’s been active and, frankly, how we’ve played when he hasn’t been active.”
In their last 25 games with Alvarez behind the plate, the Mets are a ridiculous 22-3. When he went down in April after sliding awkwardly into the second base bag and spraining his thumb, which required surgery, New York went 18-28.
Since Alvarez’s return on June 11, the Mets have gone 11-3 and have catapulted themselves back into the NL Wild Card race, pulling themselves to within one game of the final spot and feverishly knocking on the door.
Of course, not all credit goes to Alvarez as the rest of the players on the Mets have started to play to their capabilities as well – not to mention a few surprises here and there – which has made New York one of the hottest teams in baseball.
“We’ve had some of our better players get hot all together at the same time and when you do that it lengthens out a lineup, it allows you to score runs in bunches and that’s what we’ve been able to do,” Stearns said.
And while the Mets offense has been a juggernaut lately, the pitching has been better recently too which, once again, can be attributed to Alvarez.
“Some of that is just the importance of a catcher and how a catcher can impact the entire game,” Stearns said. “And when you have a catcher who impacts both sides of the ball it can be very impactful.”
Aside from his attributes that can be seen on the field, it’s the intangibles that Alvarez also brings to the table that make him such a unique and gifted player.
By all accounts, the 22-year-old, in just his second season in the majors, is a hard worker and wants to be the best at his craft. That hard work has paid off as his defense, play calling and pitch framing have all been elite at the big league level, despite reports before he was called up that his catching abilities were not up to par.
Beyond his work ethic, Alvarez also brings an energetic and positive presence in the dugout and in the locker room, something you’d expect out of a young player. During a season that could’ve gone south in a hurry, the enthusiasm that Alvarez plays with was a breath of fresh air and resonates with a team that seems to have great chemistry this season.
“It’s tough to have really good chemistry, really good vibes, really good energy all the time when you’re not playing good baseball. I think it’s also tough to sustain playing good baseball, given how much all of us are around each other if you don’t have the chemistry, the energy, the vibes,” Stearns said. “So I think it does go hand in hand and I don’t know what yields what, but it’s fun when you have a group like that that enjoys being around each other.”
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