Who will be with the Mets following the Aug. 1 MLB Trade Deadline is anyone’s guess. But what we do know is that Francisco Álvarez will be in Queens for the foreseeable future, as the 21-year-old phenom continues to make his mark on the league.

In what’s been a rather forgettable season for the Mets up until this point, the best part of the season has been watching Álvarez transform himself into one of the better young players in the league. And he’s done without the same amount of attention as others, considering his team’s shortcomings thus far.

On Tuesday, Álvarez was the difference in the Mets’ ultimate 11-10 win over the White Sox. 

As the Mets’ held on for dear life, it was Álvarez who put two baseballs into orbit. It was Álvarez’s third multi-home run game of the season, which is tied with Josh Jung (Texas Rangers) and James Outman (Los Angeles Dodgers) for the most by an MLB rookie this season. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the only Mets with more multi-home run games in their rookie seasons are Pete Alonso and Darryl Strawberry (4 each). And the Mets have 68 games to play after Tuesday. 

What’s more impressive is that Álvarez now leads all catchers in homers despite only playing 69 of 94 games this season. For some time, Álvarez had cooled down after a hot start. The month of June wasn’t kind to the Mets, and it wasn’t kind to Álvarez  either. The young catcher slashed just .151/.205/.239 with four home runs, seven RBIs, and a .534 OPS.

The league adjusted to Álvarez. In July, he adjusted back.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Coming into Tuesday’s game, Álvarez was hitting .343/.395/.771 with seven home runs, 12 RBIs, and a 1.166 OPS since July 1. In Tuesday’s 11-10 win, Álvarez was 2-for-3 with two home runs, four RBIs and two walks.

“It’s like a lot of young players, he’s not having as many emotional at-bats,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said when asked what looked different about his at-bats in July. “You’re always walking the fine line, not taking that away from him. He’s just under control. The walks he took tonight were impressive. When you have that type of power at your fingertips, you want to swing. You want to hit the ball. You want it to go a long way. So, the ability to not get out of the strike zone and let them use their aggressiveness against you, that’s the thing that I’ve enjoyed watching; him starting to walk a bit more and realizing a little bit what they’re trying to do to him.”

And when opposing pitchers do make a mistake, Showalter said that Álvarez is in a position to “hurt them.”’

On Tuesday, he did just that by putting a hurting on the White Sox pitching on Tuesday. And by doing so, he put the Mets in a position to win. In a season of disappointment for the franchise, Álvarez has been anything but this season.