The lack of home runs doesn’t bother Eric Chavez.
That’s not the problem, the Mets hitting coach believes, when it comes to Francisco Alvarez’s extended slump.
“Literally what I told him, I said: ‘Everybody wants to talk about homers, everybody wants to jump right into the homers.’ I told him: ‘I just want you to be a good hitter,” Chavez said of the catcher, who was 0-for-4 in Saturday’s 4-0 win over the Marlins at Citi Field. “I said: ‘In a few years, you will be the best offensive catcher in this game, no question about it.’ I’ll put my name on that. There’s no doubt. But he just needs to learn how to be a good hitter.”
It’s an ongoing process.
After missing seven weeks with a torn ligament in his left thumb, Alvarez returned red hot, producing a 1.125 OPS in 15 June games, sparking the Mets. He hit safely in 11 of those contests, producing eight extra-base hits. But July was not kind, with Alvarez managing just a .577 OPS. He has only started to look better at the plate recently, although he is only hitting .243/.282/.297 this month.
“I told him, ‘Last year you hit 25 homers. Did you think it was a good year? Because I didn’t,’ ” Chavez said of Alvarez, who has a mediocre .712 OPS this season, but only five home runs and 27 RBIs in 214 at-bats. “You look at all your numbers, I thought it was not very good at all. I said, ‘When you came back this year from your injury, that’s a good hitter. You’ll learn to do the homer thing, but become a good hitter first and make consistent contact and hit the mistakes, then the home runs are going to come.’ Everybody just wants to jump right into home runs — that kind of messes things up a little bit.”
Chavez believes the 22-year-old Alvarez has been too focused on the home run and trying to pull the ball, instead of using all fields. Chavez has noticed progress of late. From July 1 through Aug. 4, Alvarez struck out 26 times in 20 games. He has whiffed nine times in the last 10 games.
“I tell him: He’s got a Ferrari engine. I just need him to work on the brakes,” the hitting coach said. “He can drive the car at 100. I need him to drive it at 30. Once he learns to get control of his body, the better off he’s going to be.”
