On Saturday, the Pittsburgh Pirates executed a double steal against New York Mets rookie catcher Francisco Alvarez, with Ke'Bryan Hayes taking third base and Ji Hwan Bae swiping second. After Alvarez made the unconventional decision to throw to second base instead of third, Mets manager Buck Showalter asked catching instructor Glenn Sherlock to pick Alvarez's brain about what was behind the decision.
It was a fair question: Alvarez's strength has always been his bat, and his caught stealing rate in the majors this year is among the bottom tier of qualified catchers. In his answer, though, Alvarez was wholly transparent -- and showed plenty of the growth that has so impressed the Mets this year. Like a doctoral candidate carefully presenting a thesis, Alvarez explained all of the variables that he had considered before making the throw to second: the speed of each runner, how quickly pitcher Tylor Megill had released the ball, the position of the infielder. These were observations made and processed in fractions of a second. Sherlock and Showalter were struck by the sheer volume of information Alvarez had sifted through and weighed in the moment before targeting the trail runner.
"The fact that he made that adjustment that quickly is incredible," Sherlock said.
But this was not a one-way conversation; with Alvarez, it never is. "He asks a lot of questions," Sherlock said. It was clear that Alvarez wanted Sherlock's feedback too. Under the circumstances, was throwing to second base the right decision? Or would it have been better for Alvarez to throw to third base?
This penchant for answering and asking seems to be at the core of Alvarez's personal ascension into one of the most productive catchers in the majors, in his defense and offense.