Mets coach had message for Francisco Alvarez before walk-off home run

New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez hadn't hit a home run since July 26 and was in the middle of a 2-for-25 slump when he approached home plate with the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning of Monday's home game against the Baltimore Orioles.

It appears New York co-hitting coach Eric Chavez gave Alvarez some simple advice before the slugger crushed his club's most dramatic walk-off shot, to date, of the season.

"I just want you to be a good hitter," Chavez recently told Alvarez, as shared by Will Sammon of The Athletic.

The Mets have routinely credited Alvarez for the club's summer resurgence, to the point that some can't help but wonder what could have been had the 22-year-old not missed nearly two months of action this spring because of a torn ligament in his left thumb. Sammon mentioned that Alvarez "also dealt with a nagging shoulder issue in late July" that seemingly impacted the power-hitter's offensive performances.

"When he first came back, he was hitting the ball the other way really well," Chavez said about Alvarez's return to the lineup from the thumb issue in June. "And then he started to get pitched inside. And then he got it in his head that he wanted to hit pull-side homers. So he started spinning out. So we’ve just been working on his direction."

Alvarez entered Tuesday slashing .253/.318/.410 with just six home runs, 28 RBI and a .728 OPS across 67 games this season. The 65-60 Mets will hope the last at-bat of Monday's win offered a sign of things to come, as they ended the day's MLB action 1.5-games back of the Atlanta Braves in the battle for the National League's last wild-card playoff spot.

"Everybody thinks it’s the physical things that happened — it’s not," Chavez added. "He got it in his head or someone said something about hitting pull-side homers, so, physically, the body just responded to what the brain told it to do."

Multiple analysts noted that the Mets needed somebody other than shortstop Francisco Lindor, such as first baseman Pete Alonso, to help "carry" the club into the postseason. Alvarez getting hot beginning with Tuesday's matchup against the 73-53 Orioles would be a welcome spark for the Amazins heading into their upcoming 10-game road trip that gets underway with a game at the San Diego Padres (71-55) on Thursday night.