While this season has been a letdown for the New York Mets, there has been nothing disappointing about rookie catcher Francisco Alvarez.
The young slugger, who plays the game with infectious energy and hits massive home runs, was behind the plate during the ninth inning when the Mets hosted the Cubs at Citi Field on Wednesday night.
New York reliever Phil Bickford was on the mound as the Mets held a 4-3 lead. Bickford faced Chicago’s Ian Happ and the bases were loaded when Alvarez noticed the pitch clock was winding down. It became immediately clear to Alvarez that a violation was coming.
Francisco Álvarez is paying attention, man. pic.twitter.com/Iyf8dU3uTQ
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 10, 2023
So with no time left to spare, July’s National League Rookie of the Month was savvy enough to call a timeout and sprint to the pitcher’s mound to have a quick conference with Bickford.
This avoided the pitch clock violation, which could have walked in a game-tying run. Bickford, instead, went on to record a save and clinch the series in a victory over Chicago.
Alvarez was especially impressive with this move because Bickford is one of the pitchers with the slowest tempos in the majors. So it also showed a strong knowledge of his teammate even though Bickford didn’t join the team until a trade on August 1.
All things considered, this certainly made up for the awkward PitchCom balk blunder from earlier this month.
