Francisco Alvarez navigating ups and downs of rookie season: ‘It’s the biggest jump in professional sports’

PHOENIX — If the Mets are going to right the ship that is the 2023 season, they’ll need more performances like the ones they turned in this week in Arizona. And they’ll need more home runs like the ones they’re getting from Francisco Alvarez.

It’s hard to believe there was a time when moments like the one he faced Wednesday night in Phoenix once looked too big for him. It’s also hard to believe that last month he fell into a slump. Rookies are prone to stops, starts and extreme highs and lows as they learn to hit the game’s most elite pitching and navigate the Major Leagues for the first time. Those pitchers are more adept at adjusting to hitters and rookies aren’t as adept at making their own adjustments to counter.

Last month, Alvarez went 15 games without a home run. Over that span, he hit only .111 with a .317 OPS, only one extra-base hit, four walks and 15 strikeouts.

“He’s a 21-year-old catcher making adjustments on the fly,” manager Buck Showalter said earlier this week. “He’s seeing things and growing from them little by little. It’s two steps forward, one step back with guys at this level coming up. It’s the biggest jump in professional sports. I’ve said it 100 times.”

But consider the slump busted.

Alvarez has hit three home runs in the last six days, including a game-winning two-run moonshot Tuesday that was measured at 447 feet. The next day, he hit one with the Mets trailing the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0 with two outs in the ninth and two strikes in the ninth inning. The Mets went on to win after Brett Baty and Mark Canha kept the inning going with a single and a triple.

“It’s like a huge weight off your shoulders when somebody ties the game there,” Canha said. “When you have a tie game there and you’re trying to win it, it kind off feels like you’re playing with house money a little bit more than when you’re like, we need to get a baserunner or drive a run in to not lose this game right now. That was big on his part and I give him a lot of credit. And then another good at-bat from Baty and then I was able to do what I did.”

Alvarez, who practically skipped around the diamond after his own home run, was happier than just about anyone else when Baty came hit home.

“I let about a big yell right there,” Alvarez said through a translator. “I came out of the dugout and I hit Baty super hard. He might have a bruise right now.”

The Mets’ fates have improved over the last few days as Alvarez has come out of that home run drought. It’s probably not a coincidence, and it helps make up for the fact that Pete Alonso is now marred in a deep slump of his own.

It’s only a matter of time before Alonso comes out of his. He’s in his fifth season and set a rookie home run record in 2019 with 53 and even that season didn’t come without slumps. He’s a veteran now who knows how to ride the waves of a long, chaotic season.

But Alvarez has only just gotten on the surfboard. The adjustments he showed in recent games show that he is riding them well so far.

“I think I’m slowly, but surely, getting back there,” Alvarez said. “I think I’m back to the same level where I was that month when I was playing really well. I think little by little I’ll get there.”

He might already be there.

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