Francisco Alvarez Fueling Mets’ Recent Success

Blasphemy, I know, but what if the Mets’ recent success had nothing to do with Grimace? What if the rally pimp never made a difference? Is the soon-to-be Citi Field summer anthem “OMG” by Jose Iglesias just a song? (OK, that’s ridiculous.)

But what if the answer blowing in the wind is Francisco Alvarez?

The Mets are 22-8 (22-3 in the last 25) when he plays and 17-31 when he doesn’t. (Yes, the Mets are 11-2 since Grimace took the mound.)

“Look, his ability to lead, not only the pitching staff, but his presence there in the dugout with the position players and his at-bats as of late especially, you know, he’s been on fire,” manager Carlos Mendoza said at a news conference before Wednesday’s game. “And his ability to lay off some tough pitches and his ability to do damage.”

Alvarez backed up Mendoza’s comments by going 3-for-3 with a home run, double and three RBIs in the Mets 12-2 victory over the Yankees in front of 43,004 at Citi Field.

He is, as his manager said, hot. The homer was his third in his past five games. He is slashing .415/.500/.732/1.232 since returning from the injured list on June 11. In the last 15 days, Alvarez leads MLB in on-base percentage at .533 and is second in batting average and OPS to CJ Abrams and Shohei Ohtani, respectively.

He guided Sean Manaea through a shaky five shutout innings in which the veteran lefty walked five, but got three double play balls.

“Again, he’s a leader there and it’s not an easy position for a young player to take charge like that and be invested in his pitching staff,” Mendoza said before the game. “So that’s pretty impressive.”

Alvarez’s homer was also the 30th of his career in 544 plate appearances, putting him in elite company. He joined Hall of Famers Johnny Bench and Iván Rodríguez and four-time All-Star Darrell Porter as the only catchers to hit 30 homers before turning 23. Take that, Grimace.

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