DENVER — Francisco Alvarez has been his pitching staff’s best friend this season, but the offensive power numbers on which he built much of his reputation have been lacking.
The Mets catcher entered play Tuesday with a .263/.327/.419 slash line — numbers many teams would take from a starting catcher.
But Alvarez only had five homers in 186 at-bats as the day began, well off his pace last season, when he homered 25 times in 382 at-bats as a 21-year-old rookie.
The obvious answer would be to say Alvarez is banged up.
He underwent April surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb that sidelined him for 1 ½ months and recently has been playing through left shoulder soreness. But if his health is a factor in his offensive dip, Alvarez isn’t about to say.
“I have no excuse for that,” Alvarez said Tuesday before the Mets opened a three-game series against the Rockies at Coors Field.
Alvarez entered play with only one homer in his past 90 at-bats. That blast occurred on July 26 against the Braves at Citi Field.
For July, he hit only .200 with a .577 OPS.
Alvarez’s walk rate from last season has increased with his strikeouts dropping, but one telling statistic is a hard-hit ball rate that has dropped from 45.1 percent to 40.1 percent.
“Right now, I want to stay back a little bit more and I don’t want to chase the sliders,” Alvarez said. “I have been looking for something up and they are throwing the slider down.”
The numbers back Alvarez’s assertion. He owned a .535 slugging percentage against fastballs as play began, but facing breaking pitches that number was an anemic .282.
“I think he’s been a little off with his timing,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “When he’s late, he’s not putting himself in a position where he can do damage. Mechanically, you will see this. But checking with him, his thumb, he had that left shoulder [issue] and none of that is affecting the power. He’s still going to go out there and give you good at-bats and I’m not concerned.”
If the power outage has bothered Alvarez, it hasn’t been evident to the manager.
“He’s the same guy,” Mendoza said. “He wants to win.”
Much of Alvarez’s drought has occurred during a stretch in which Brandon Nimmo is looking to rebound and Pete Alonso — despite a small burst over the past week — hasn’t approached the power numbers expected from him.
Jose Iglesias’ hot bat over his first six weeks in a Mets uniform has regressed toward the mean, but the Mets have gotten a boost from Jeff McNeil.
The Mets began the day 1.5 games out of the National League’s third wild-card spot.
Alvarez said if the Mets pitchers are prepared and the team keeps winning, he is doing his job.
“I think the most important thing is we’re winning the fight and that’s the most important thing — keep winning,” Alvarez said.
“I am very focused on my pitcher and the best I can do for me is call a good game. When it’s time to hit and do something offensive, I have my plan and if I don’t [execute] I have to keep going because I have to catch the next inning.”
With almost two months still left in the regular season, Alvarez says there is a surge remaining in him offensively.
“There’s two more months,” Alvarez said “And we’re going to the playoffs, too, so maybe three more months.”
