Francisco Alvarez’s confidence never wavered even during a brutal 33-game stretch in which he batted just .198 with one home run and four RBI — the lowest point of the New York Mets 22-year-old catcher’s second-year regression.
After socking 25 home runs in his first full campaign last year, he entered Monday night with just five in 66 games, including a 15-game round-tripper drought that accrued a .184 average, two RBI, and a paltry .440 OPS. His lack of production of late was just a microcosm of a Mets malaise that saw them squander a big chance to pick up some ground in the National League Wild Card race with an easy schedule, going 3-3 against the lowly Oakland Athletics and Miami Marlins.
Anxiety in Queens only grew when the Mets squandered a 3-1 lead on Monday night against the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles in the seventh inning while bats went alarmingly quiet. Following the departure of Orioles starter Trevor Rogers, the Mets’ offense went 0-for-11 with nine strikeouts against Baltimore’s bullpen until Alvarez stepped to the plate with one out and the bases empty in the bottom of the ninth against Seranthony Dominguez.
Dominguez lost the strike zone, falling behind Alvarez 3-0 to at least introduce an ember that could spark a rally by getting someone on base. However, the ever-confident Alvarez was given the green light to swing by manager Carlos Mendoza, who in turn had kept the faith in his struggling catcher.
“I’m thinking, ‘Swing at the ball and hit the barrel,'” Alvarez said of his simple approach that would bust his slump.
Dominguez uncorked a 98-mph fastball high in the zone and Alvarez went up and got it, crushing a 421-foot no-doubter into the left-center-field seats to provide an enormous walk-off win for a Mets team that had fallen two games behind the Atlanta Braves for the final Wild Card spot in the NL.
“It’s been hard for him,” Mendoza said. “Twenty-two years old and struggling at the big-league level but I’ve been saying — he cares so much and he wants to win. At times when we’re struggling offensively as a. team, he feels like he’s responsible and he’s got a lot on his plate with taking care of the pitching staff and things like that, but the homer, the impact… for him to finally hit one out of the ballpark, it’s been a while. In that situation to give us a win, I’m happy for him.”
No one’s joy could match Alvarez’s, though, as he knew the ball was gone when it left his bat. The Mets catcher sauntered up the first-base line while leering into his team’s dugout with more than a month’s worth of frustrations ready to be let out. Within a few steps, he began gesticulating dramatically — raising his arms until they were parallel with his shoulders while pointing down toward the field — and screamed, “This is my f—ing s—t!”
“I felt very excited because [the Orioles] are a very good team and we beat them,” Alvarez said. “We are fighting to make the playoffs, so I think the biggest thing is I helped the team a lot and I am happy for that.”
While the win moved the Mets to within 1.5 games of the Braves for that last playoff spot, Alvarez made a bit of history with his winner, becoming the third-youngest player in franchise history to hit a walk-off home run behind only Lee Mazzilli in 1976 and Ron Swoboda in 1966 (h/t Sarah Langs, ESPN).
The hope within the Mets’ clubhouse is that this is the start of a torrid stretch for a young hitter who has proven to be streaky during his short time in the majors. A slugging catcher clicking late in the summer would provide an immeasurable boost for the Mets’ playoff hopes.
“It’s critical, it’s important, it’s huge,” Mendoza said. “When we talk about some of these guys where it’s been hard for them… [He’s] been better but we haven’t seen that impact in games and for us to see it today, it’s going to be huge. When you have a guy like that going, hitting at the bottom of the lineup, we talk about how deep our lineup is, we need these guys to get going. As a hitter, when you get a hold of one like that, it can get you back on track.”
