Two-sport Olympian Eddy Alvarez talks journey to New York after trade to Mets | SNY

A lot of traveling, I was in Triple-A with the Red Sox and we were playing in Rochester, New York. So we were on a bus ride when I found out the news that I've been traded and then it was, you know, Mayhem from there started packing like crazy and then, you know, obviously making the trip out here from from the Boston area little traffic, but it's been great. I mean I'm super excited to be here so it's a pack of your place in Worcester. Yeah. And how'd you get here? Well I flew out okay yeah dry and drove traffic, hit in the morning, headed into Boston Joe's. It was close to a two-hour drive for me even and I'm going 30 40 miles or so long as it should be. Yeah. Wait too long. But yeah got here and everything's been running smoothly so I'm excited to be here. What do you mean? Do you jump into this situation with this team? This is incredible. This is you know what I was feels like what I was meant for. I love this kind of baseball I've always been always thought of myself as a playoff baseball player. You know, guy that can bunt guys over hit-and-run and we put a good at-bat. So the fact that you know this organization saw something to me playing AAA so you know it gives me confidence and I'm just I'm going to do everything in my power to to play at the best of my ability to help this club. You know, this final push. Anything about your role and what do they say when? Yeah you know for the most part is coming off the bench which is perfectly fine with me. I'd have little speed. So if they need, you know, some base Stealers or anything for Pinch running or defensive replacement or a pinch. Hit off of righty picture. You know, I'm ready for it all. So, I mean it's just a very cool spot to be and I'm very excited to put on these colors for a living. I am in the offseason, I do. Yes, you're younger than Tina's. Do you know any, I'm in the middle. I'm in the middle. If I'm in the minor leagues, I'm old in front of the big leagues, but yeah, you know, Miami as I love to explain it. It's such a small, bubble, small circle of every baseball player knows each other. You know, JD We've ran into each other fair share of times and then obviously, Vientos Katana and everyone that's down in Miami. We all run into each other. So it's cool being in this game for a long time. This is my tenth year. You run into familiar faces. So even though it's a new team is still still feels like a bunch of guys that I played with before and you can, you know, it's just fun to be placed in a situation where there's a lot of energy and a lot of excitement and just a lot of fun. How often do people bring up to you your place in Olympic history, my place in Olympic history, too much, but it's one of those stories I know is very unique and I love to share it. I know the Olympic experience for me was something special. And not many can have been able to experience that. So the fact that I'm able to share that with with other players that probably won't ever have that opportunity to experience. It's it's enough, it's good, it's fun for me. I mean yeah when it's Cutthroat Olympics is Cutthroat it's you know you trained for this one moment every four years which is crazy to think about. So yeah, this is very similar is this something that I feel prepared to take on and take on this role? But yeah, that Journey has elevated my baseball career and to be honest, if it wasn't for my skating journey, I probably would have never gotten this far. Why is that? Well because you know, these athletes that you dedicate your entire life, your entire day, to day your social life, everything for this one opportunity and some don't ever get that opportunity. So the fact that you have to lock it in for this one weekend to be able to go and represent the country to then potentially win a medal. You know, you do get put into these high intensity situations, high high leverage situation. So You know, being able to transition that over to the baseball has has really propelled me and, and in gaining ground and all the times that I've lost in a mindset way. Yes, yes, absolutely. Yeah, my says, incredible, I mean Olympic athletes deal with so much behind closed doors, just because every four years, you get that that platform. You're on top of the world. You're in front of all the attention, all the cameras, all the sponsorships, And then, you know, once that closing ceremony comes around, it's all kind of gets pulled under from under you and you go back into that that closed door and, you know, back to training for another four years until that moment. Again, lucky the most accomplished athlete in the room, but I don't know about that. I might, I might make a little run for best spandex wearing athlete in the room. Maybe, I don't know. Peter Lanza might have me on that. I'll talk. I'll talk to him about it. in terms of the baseball, just yeah, it's been a challenging season mentally, I You know being 34 and and you know grinding the minor leagues with a wife at home and two kids, it has been a challenging year for me but I've just you know my wife reminds me everyday to take the moments as they come and it's been great. I've seen a lot of a lot more power production from my swing. This year, a lot more RBIs, you know, a lot more damage. Overall I could tell you that I probably haven't had the luck that I've had in the past but I mean I'm It just feels like a different me out there right now, and I'm just glad that, you know, the Mets, gave her that opportunity to show it. One more power damage. I wish I could tell you. Yeah, I mean, if you know the secret, please let me know because not, not not as much. The last three years have been relatively similar swing. I would say it's just a level of comfort being in the game longer and, you know, just finding the barrel lot more. So yeah, let's just get through. Into the Fire. Let's see what happens.