NEW YORK -- Given Francisco ?lvarez¡¯s reputation for prodigious power, it only made sense that his first career hit was going to be a memorable home run.

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Upon subbing into Game 2 of Tuesday¡¯s Mets doubleheader against the Nationals, ?lvarez crushed a 439-foot, 108.9-mph homer deep into the left-field stands. A stadium worker grabbed the ball for ?lvarez, who intends to give it to his mother.

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He wasn¡¯t done. Two innings later, ?lvarez hit a 107.8-mph double, finishing with the two hardest-hit balls in the game. It was a stark turnaround for ?lvarez, MLB Pipeline's No. 1 overall prospect, who had gone 0-for-8 in his first three career games last weekend in Atlanta.

¡°The adjustment I made was pretty much to calm the game down a little more,¡± ?lvarez said through an interpreter. ¡°I felt over the weekend, I was trying to get that first hit out of the way, so everything was going a little bit quicker. So I came in today with a different approach, just to be a little bit more calm and slow the game down a little more.¡±

Although the Mets have only a small sample size on which to judge the 20-year-old ?lvarez at the highest level, his performance on Tuesday could sway their decision whether to include him in their postseason plans. The Mets are set to open a best-of-three Wild Card Series against the Padres on Friday, and while they¡¯re likely to include veteran catchers James McCann and Tomás Nido on that roster, ?lvarez could sneak in as a right-handed DH option.

¡°It¡¯s not my decision,¡± ?lvarez said. ¡°It¡¯s really their decision. I¡¯ll take it fine whether I am or I¡¯m not.¡±