When Francisco Alvarez rejoined the New York Mets clubhouse Friday after spending the season’s first four weeks on the injured list, the catcher searched for first-base coach Antoan Richardson.
Alvarez had a newfound goal he wanted to share.
Upon spotting Richardson, Alvarez told him, “I want to be better at my base running.”
During Alvarez’s rehab assignment (broken hamate bone), he said he worked on taking better secondary leads and moving around the bases more efficiently with Low-A St. Lucie bench coach Jonathan Jones, who is in his first year with the organization.
“That one was eye-opening to me,” Richardson said. “I thought that was really, really cool. He wants to find ways to improve.”
Already, Alvarez, 23, juggles plenty. Much is expected from him offensively and defensively. Entering his third full big-league season, he has established a reputation as a quick learner and hard worker. When Alvarez sees areas for improvement, he addresses them. He learned English. He evolved as a leader in pregame meetings with starting pitchers. He overhauled his swing.
Francisco Alvarez goes the opposite way for his first homer of the year! pic.twitter.com/eUl3Hfsbmd
— MLB (@MLB) April 26, 2025
So it comes as little surprise that Alvarez found something else to improve, even if it’s an unusual objective for a catcher with just three career stolen bases and below-average sprint speed.
“It’s not about stealing bases,” Alvarez said. “I just want to be a better base runner. I want to go first to third, second to home plate and score from first base on doubles.”
Alvarez is on the right team for such an initiative.
The Mets are baseball’s best at scoring from first base on a double. In the Mets’ 8-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, Luisangel Acuña scored from first on Tyrone Taylor’s double for the first run. The Mets have scored from first base on a double 16 times. The next-best team, the Athletics, has done it 10 times.
“This group cares about running hard for their teammate. Like, if I’m on first, I want to get that guy the RBI,” Richardson said. “Is that a correlation to what is happening? I don’t know. But I know it’s important to the group.”
With a laugh, Richardson added, “They have to have the desire to do that because that’s not a short run.”
Baseball Reference’s metric, called extra-bases taken percentage, counts the number of times a runner advanced more than one base on a single or more than two bases on a double, when possible. Entering play Tuesday, the Mets ranked third (53 percent) in the majors, behind only the San Francisco Giants (58 percent) and Detroit Tigers (56 percent), the only other teams above 50 percent. Club officials point to personnel knowing Citi Field well enough to know when to take such chances on the bases on balls hit into the alleys and corners of the outfield. Richardson said the Mets have stressed taking better secondary leads this season.
“As a group, we’ve improved on that daily,” Richardson said. “I’m careful with saying whether it’s a correlation. But Pete (Alonso), all the time when he’s on first base, he’s like, ‘I’m ready to score.’ With (Luisangel) Acuña, it’s, ‘Hey, watch me.’ They’re thinking about it. Unintentionally, it’s just a mindset these guys are getting into that’s allowing them to do it. I hope we continue to do it.”
Alvarez wants in on the action.
So far, he has already made an impact in a few ways. On Saturday, he made a timely mound visit to Edwin Díaz after the closer had thrown five straight balls. From there, Díaz settled down and struck out the next two batters for a save. Later, Díaz called the mound visit a good one; he appreciated the breather. In that game, Alvarez also hit his first home run, going to the opposite field.
Then, obscured in the Mets’ lopsided win Monday and before things truly got out of hand, he went from first to third on Acuña’s single — because of course he did.
“It will help make me a better player,” Alvarez said of his goal to be a better base runner. “And it helps the team be better.”
(Photo of Francisco Alvarez: Samuel Corum / Getty Images)
