JUPITER, Fla. — A day after doing both, Francisco Álvarez broke into a wide smile when asked which he preferred.
The Mets catcher said it is more fun to throw a guy out than to hit a home run.
This season, Álvarez is aiming to have more fun than he had a year ago.
In his breakout rookie season, Álvarez impressed nearly everywhere. His bat might have been inconsistent but it supplied rare power, particularly for his position and particularly for his age. He quickly emerged as one of the best pitch framers in baseball and was adept at blocking pitches and working with pitchers, earning the praise of just about everyone he caught.
Francisco Alvarez hopes to improve upon his 13 percent success rate at throwing out attempted base-stealers in 2023. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST But if there was an area Álvarez struggled, it came when opposing base-runners took off for the next base. Alvarez threw out just 13 percent of attempted base-stealers last season, when the major league average was 19 percent. The weakness stood out in a season when rule changes motivated increased running, and 2023 saw the most steals across baseball in a season since 1987.
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Alvarez’s arm — an average speed of 84.8 mph thrown to a base — was middle of the pack among catchers and not a glaring weakness. There was more area for improvement in how quickly he could release the ball and how he could shuffle his feet, with an average pop time — measuring how long it takes a catcher to throw to second base — of 1.94 seconds that he and the Mets believed he could improve upon.
“The throwing is something that we talked about trying to be more consistent with his footwork and with his stances,” catching coach Glenn Sherlock said before the Mets beat the Marlins, 3-1, at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Friday night. “That’s really what we’re concentrating on.”
The largest difference this season rests in Álvarez’s footwork. Last year, he would remain squatted on one knee — a stance in which catchers find it easier to frame pitches — and then rise from that position to throw to a base.
This season, Álvarez must be busy when a runner attempts a steal. He now will stay in a one-knee-down stance until he sees the runner take off, when he quickly picks up the knee and transitions to pouncing on the balls of his feet, a more traditional catcher squat that enables him to fire off a throw quicker.
“He’s such a good framing catcher that we don’t want to give that up, and we want to keep that,” Sherlock said of the one-knee-down stance. “That’s one of his big strengths. So we’ve kind of modified his stance … when the runner goes.
“I would say [Alvarez’s footwork is] more consistent than last year. … We want all these things to be the same.”
Perhaps the Nationals had remembered running wild against Álvarez, who threw out just 15 attempted base-stealers in 114 tries last season. On Thursday, Washington’s Lane Thomas, Ildemaro Vargas and Carter Kieboom tried swiping second base. All three were gunned down on snap throws that did not require Francisco Lindor (twice) and Joey Wendle (once) to move their gloves much.
“I want to improve on everything, but my biggest focus is on my throwing,” said Álvarez, whose swing has looked just fine, too. He homered for a second straight day Friday and doubled down the third-base line.
Ultimately, the job of slowing down opponents’ running games will not just fall to Álvarez. A focus for Mets pitchers — particularly Adam Ottavino, who statistically was among the worst at holding runners last year — has been giving their catchers a chance. Ottavino has tweaked his pickoff move to be quicker to first and was on the mound for two of Álvarez’s successful throw-downs Thursday.
He gave Álvarez a chance to do what gives him the most joy on a baseball field.
“I feel really good with where I’m at right now,” Álvarez said of his throwing game.
