Sunny skies and live baseball games are back — and along with those, as of Sunday, are Francisco Álvarez bombs.

Álvarez swatted his first home run of spring training in the third inning of Sunday’s win over Houston. Helping the Mets secure their first win of the spring, Álvarez went 2-for-2 in his first two at-bats of 2024, beginning what he hopes to be a strong sophomore campaign on a solid note.

Facing right-hander A.J. Blubaugh, Álvarez managed to stay level on a high-and-away fastball at 96 mph. The pitch was barely inside the top right quadrant of the strike zone. The shot had an exit velocity of 97.5 mph, lifting just high enough to sail over the right field wall.

“It feels good. It feels very nice,” Álvarez said without the aid of an interpreter. His bat isn’t the only thing that’s come a long way — his English has too, which he credited to the help of a teacher in the minor leagues, along with constant support from Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and the coaches.

Four of Álvarez’s 25 home runs went to the opposite field in his rookie season. It took him just two at-bats into spring training to hit an opposite-field blast here in the preseason of his second full MLB campaign.

“I was thinking about hitting the ball a little bit deeper,” Álvarez said.

It’s far too early to tell if this is a major approach adjustment, or if Álvarez just happened to hit the ball that way. In any case, it does continue to showcase the immense strength he possess at only 22 years old. And though you can’t make too much of spring training results — particularly in a two-at-bat sample size — it’s an encouraging sign nonetheless that Álvarez has continued to mature as a hitter.

The home run wasn’t even the hardest ball Álvarez hit on Sunday. Back in the first inning, he smashed a single at 101 mph on a pitch that was well inside the strike zone at 91 mph. That was a key for Álvarez in both his at-bats: doing damage on less-than-ideal pitches to hit. If he can do this more often come time for the season, he could be especially dangerous.

Francisco Álvarez. Photo by Ed Delaney, MMO

Álvarez’s first full season featured waves of production, but could be considered a success overall. He was right about league average with the bat, posting a 97 wRC+, aggregated by sub-par on-base skills (.284 OBP) and plus power (.228 ISO). His decent bat, combined with strong defensive metrics behind the plate, gave him 2.7 fWAR on the season.

Álvarez burst onto the scene with a torrid May in 2023, putting up a 176 wRC+ and 1.029 OPS in 21 games. It was this performance that really solidified his place as the Mets’ starting catcher. He fell off a cliff in June, only batting .151 with a .205 OBP. But his production rose back up in July. He hit eight home runs and posted a .974 OPS en route to being named the NL Rookie of the Month.

True to the form of his season, Álvarez slumped again in August, a month in which he only hit one home run. His wRC+ in September and October was even with his season mark at 97, leaving him with a valuable but streaky campaign overall.

Clearly, the biggest issue with Álvarez is consistency. He showed flashes of superstardom, and flashes of being an overly eager young hitter. But his youth is still working in his favor, and Sunday’s game was a small but positive step towards creating the more reliable version of himself that he hopes to morph into.

The key going forward will be to see if he can keep hitting pitches that aren’t in a hitter’s typical sweet spot — and not only hit them, but hit them hard.