Francisco Alvarez Notches First Career Walk Off

It’s been a struggling sophomore season for Francisco Alvarez.

After a stint on the injury list and a scalding hot June, the Mets catcher has been absent at the plate. Alvarez entered Monday’s matchup with the Orioles with sub .600 OPS in July and August and just five homers in 235 plate appearances on the year.

It’s raised many questions about the Mets’ young catcher, especially due to high expectations for Alvarez entering 2024. He had put up a 25-homer and .721 OPS campaign as a 21-year-old and was in discussion with opposing catcher Adley Rutschman for the best young catcher in the game.

But on Monday night with one swing, Alvarez provided the Mets with one of their most impactful home runs of the season.

The Mets had been on cruise control up until the seventh against the O’s. David Peterson was dealing, but balked in a run and served up a solo homer to Ramón Urías on back-to-back pitches to erase the Mets lead.

With the game tied at 3, José Buttó and Edwin Díaz did their part and handed the lineup a chance to walk it off in the ninth before heading for extras. It was there that Alvarez jacked a 421-foot homer to left field to win the game for the Mets—his first career walk-off RBI.

The homer was the first from Alvarez since July 26 against Atlanta and only his sixth in 239 plate appearances. It came on a 98-mile-per-hour up and in pitch from Seranthony Domínguez in a 3-0 count. A good pitch, but Alvarez got to it.

More important was the trust of Carlos Mendoza, who gave the green light to Alvarez on 3-0. Something Alvarez thanked his manager for after the walk-off dinger.

GOODBYE AND GOOD NIGHT!! ALVAREZ WALKS IT OFF FOR THE METS!!! pic.twitter.com/2c6YuqeOEO

— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) August 20, 2024

“I really appreciate Carlos because he gave me the green light,” Alvarez said. “I just was thinking … ‘keep the ball in the middle and I don’t think about being excited.'”

The walk-off winner was astounding in the moment but hopefully leads to more success in the future for the Mets. The Amazins have already gotten more production from Jeff McNeil in the second half, and could use a boost from their catcher who was homer-happy in 2023.

The homer was the Mets’ second walk-off dinger of the season. The last came from J.D. Martinez on June 13 against Tanner Scott and the Marlins. It was also the first walk-off homer from a Mets catcher since Tomás Nido on May 25, 2019, against the Tigers.

This particular walk-off homer was different from Martinez’s. The one earlier in the year sparked a Mets run that led to New York crawling back into the Wild Card race. This homer by Alvarez did more. It prevented a bad loss that has plagued the Mets throughout the 2024 season and brought an intensity into the remainder of the series—so much so that Alvarez ran back home just to make sure he touched home plate.

“I don’t know if I missed,” Alvarez told a reporter after the game. “But I came back to touch it.”‘

The post Francisco Alvarez Notches First Career Walk Off appeared first on Metsmerized Online.