Francisco Alvarez had been striking out a lot.

Sixteen times in his previous 32 at-bats, in fact.

But the Mets catcher, who’s still only 24 years old somehow, has shown so many flashes of brilliance. And he did again on Friday, homering twice to lead a five-home-run attack in a 10-6 win over the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field.

Francisco Alvarez. By Roberto Carlo.

Alvarez’s performance prompted this eye-popping note from MLB’s Sarah Langs: Alvarez now has seven multi-homer games, tied with Gary Carter for the most ever by a catcher before turning 25. Johnny Bench holds the record with eight.

Alvarez turns 25 in November, so he’d need another multi-homer game this season to tie Bench.

Even still, what company to be part of.

Alvarez, emblematic of his career, has had a season full of ups and downs. In both April and May, his OPS was below .700. In June and July, it was above .800. Then in August, he batted just .167 with a .523 OPS.

Alvarez has always struck out a lot — more than 27% for his career — but he came into Friday with a career-worst 30.6% strikeout rate. And he actually had the worst ISO of his career, too, at .161.

He addressed both those areas on Friday.

Alvarez followed up Mark Vientos‘ first-inning three-run blast with a solo shot in the second. He pounced on a high fastball, sending it 412 feet to right-center field. And he did against lefty Matt Wilkinson despite having reverse splits. It was the Mets’ hardest-hit ball of the night at 107.5 mph.

Alvarez’s second bomb was also a solo shot, this time adding insurance in the eighth inning. He pulled it on a line this time against a righty reliever, nearly matching his previous hit’s exit velocity with a 107.4-mph blast. It went 380 feet, finding the seats in a hurry.

Overall, Alvarez went 2-for-4 and didn’t strike out. It was his first start where he didn’t strike out since Aug. 19.

Alvarez’s .732 OPS for the season is now about in line with his .734 career mark. He has 15 homers, the second-best mark of his career but 10 shy of the 25 he hit in 2023.

Alvarez’s career is kind of hard to assess in a nutshell. Since that 2023 season where he played a career-high 123 games, he’s been hampered by some injuries and inconsistency. But you look at stats like the one from Langs, and you realize he’s still made his mark. He’s a slightly above-average hitter for his career and has serious pop that displays itself in flashes.

Some fans call Alvarez a disappointment, while others say he’s the best success story of the “baby Mets.” When you take a step back, the reality seems to be that he’s a good but flawed player. But the fact that he’s still relatively young and has the kind of pop he displayed Friday night should generally excite Mets fans for the years to come.