The Mets were a significantly better team in the regular season with Francisco Alvarez in their lineup. The catcher went on the injured list on April 20 with his club owning a 12-8 record and by the time he came off on June 11, the Mets were 28-36.
The return of their young backstop was among the many things — including Grimace and “OMG” — that sparked their remarkable run to the NLCS as they went 63-36 after Alvarez’s return.
However, as they stare down the barrel of a 2-1 series deficit against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Alvarez’s postseason struggles have been glaring.
The 22-year-old entered Game 3 5-for-32 (.156) with 11 strikeouts this postseason and it didn’t get any better for him in Wednesday’s loss to the Dodgers. Alvarez was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts including one with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the second inning.
The right-handed hitter has left a total of 11 runners on base going 1-for-9 across the three games this series.
“I think offensively he’s in between,” said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. “I think he’s late making his move, which is not allowing him to make some good swing decisions. That’s why you see him at times taking the fastball or late on the fastball and then chasing. That tells you right there that we have a guy that is late getting ready.”
Alvarez also had a defensive blunder as he made a throwing error on a tapper in front of the plate by Teoscar Hernandez in the top of the second. With a runner on first and nobody out, the catcher attempted to get the lead runner at second instead of the easy out at first and it cost the Mets as both runners were safe leading to a two-run inning for the Dodgers.
“We didn’t make a couple of plays, obviously,” said Mendoza. “Weak ground ball to [Alvarez], it’s a bang-bang play at second base. I don’t know if [Jose] Iglesias would have caught that ball, he would be out. Maybe tried to do a little too much there.”
Despite the struggles on both sides of the ball on Wednesday night, Mendoza firmly stated that his young catcher will be playing in Game 4 against the Dodgers on Thursday.
The offensive struggles come as a slight surprise for Alvarez as he entered the postseason a relatively hot hitter. The backstop seemed to be turning the corner in September as he slashed .254/.357/.542 with five homers and a series of massive hits for his club down the stretch as they made their playoff push.
To keep up with the abundance of star power of the Dodgers — as displayed in Wednesday’s blowout — the Mets will need plenty of production throughout their lineup and Mendoza is banking on the Alvarez from September coming to play to keep the Mets run rolling into the Fall Classic.
“He’s a good hitter. He’s a good player. We’re facing an elite pitching staff as well. He’ll come through for us. … As of right now, I’m going to continue to ride our guys. They got us here. They will continue to step up.”
