CHICAGO — Francisco Alvarez helped spark a turnaround for the Mets in June with his play at the plate and behind it. But as the Mets head into the final month of the regular season, they’re considering giving more playing time to backup catcher Luis Torrens.
Alvarez’s bat has gone cold.
Over the last two months, the Mets’ power-hitting catching prodigy has endured the worst slump of his young career. Since July 1, he’s hit just .185 with a .511 OPS and only two home runs. As a rookie, he fell into a frustrating pattern of having extra productive months followed by unproductive months. The Mets have remained confident and patient with him because when he’s on, he’s a force.
This season, the slumps seem to be lasting a little longer. It’s still part of the learning process of a second-year big leaguer.
“He’s still, he’s so talented, right? Like he was pushed up here at [20 years old], so he’s still learning himself, his body, how to do things,” hitting coach Jeremy Barnes told the Daily News this weekend in Chicago. “You look at [Francisco Lindor] and [Jose Iglesias], they’ve done this for such a long time at this level, they kind of have those things dialed in. So just a matter of time for him until he gets a hold of this and those cold streaks become a little shorter.”
Slumps are an unfortunate reality of sports at any level. The Mets long ago identified this pattern in Alvarez and knew they would have to work with him to get him through. The problem is in his hips.
When a hitter’s foot hits the ground and the weight transfers, that’s when the hips start to rotate open. But if he rotates his hips before the weight transfer, he “spins out,” which can create timing issues and direction issues. If you’ve ever taken a golf lesson, you probably get the idea.
It causes hitters to miss pitches, flare them or roll over them to the pull side.
“It’s been a bugaboo of his through his entire career,” Barnes said. “I told him, ‘It’s been a problem for you and it’s probably going to be a problem for you in 10 years. Is one of those things that you’re just always going to have to be on top of.’ And when he’s good, they’re under control; when he’s not, he kind of flies out a little bit. So it’s just a matter of staying on top of that and getting him to have those feels and taking that confidence into the game.
“But, I mean, he’s so talented at any moment, he could just go.”
The Mets think the 22-year-old Alvarez has been pressing as of late, especially as the Wild Card race has heated up. He’s a leader on the team at just 22 years old and he wants to contribute, but he hasn’t let his struggles at the plate affect his catching or his demeanor in the clubhouse.
Pitchers still laud him for his sequencing and framing. He’s maintained an upbeat, yet competitive demeanor in the dugout and the clubhouse.
Torrens has been productive in limited action so the Mets aren’t worried about losing Alvarez’s offense in the lineup. They don’t see a cause for concern, only a young hitter who is still learning how to handle adversity, and so far, has handled it well.
“Everyone wants to have a big year, everyone wants to carry the team, everyone wants to put the team on their back,” Barnes said. “But it’s just a matter of finding that thought or cue or feeling that he can carry out there, getting something to fall or something to happen, and then just get that snowball going for him.”
SEPTEMBER CALL-UPS
The Mets called up left-handed reliever Alex Young and infielder Pablo Reyes from Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday when rosters expanded to 28. The decision to go with Reyes over Luisangel Acuña or Drew Gilbert was based on playing time.
The Mets are more comfortable leaving two of their top prospects in Triple-A where they will play every day for the rest of the month instead of calling them up to have them sit on the bench. The Mets haven’t ruled out calling up Acuña later in the month, but for now, they’d rather use Reyes off the bench as a pinch-runner and as a pinch-hitter.
“For Acuña, he’s just got to continue to play,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “There aren’t going to be many starts here and it’s important for his development to continue to play every day. We’ve still got a month to go here, a lot can change. There were a lot of names in the conversation and Acuña was one of them, but we decided to go with Pablo.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Right-hander Luis Severino is on track to start Monday against the Boston Red Sox after getting hit in the foot with a pitch earlier this week in Arizona. He’s done all of his typical between-starts work, but he has cut back on running to ease up on his foot.