New York Mets: Pete Alonso Will Be The Greatest Position Player In Franchise History
USA Today
Throughout their franchise history, the New York Mets have had many great position players. In the past, there was Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry during the 1980s, Mike Piazza in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, and David Wright afterward.
Currently, the Mets have good hitters in Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, and co. I want to point specifically to perhaps the best out of that bunch in Alonso.
Alonso has been in the majors for 5 full years, and he has already made a huge splash offensively, especially in the power department.
In his rookie year of 2019, Alonso smashed 53 home runs, which became the new rookie season record for most homers. Not only that, but those 53 homers were a new Mets franchise record for most home runs in a season as well. Alonso also had 120 RBIs, which was also a franchise rookie record for most RBIs in a year.
In the COVID-shortened season of 2020, Alonso hit 16 home runs in 57 games. Take that for a full season, and Alonso would’ve been on track to hit 40 home runs.
In 2021, Alonso had another solid year, hitting 37 home runs and driving in 94 runs. And in 2022 last season, Alonso had perhaps his best overall year. That year, he batted a career-high .271, with 40 home runs and 131 RBIs. Those 131 RBIs became the new franchise record for most RBIs in a single season by any Mets player.
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So far this season, Alonso has hit 11 home runs in 29 games.
Alonso is currently 28 years old and is in his prime. So he has many more years where he can do more damage offensively and improve.
In terms of Mets franchise records, here is where Alonso is currently ranked in some of them.
Alonso has already hit 157 home runs, which already places him fifth among Mets players in franchise history. Strawberry is still the leader at 252 home runs.
Alonso is currently 23rd in total runs scored at 332. Wright is currently first at 949.
Alonso has 408 RBI’s which currently places him 12th. Wright is still the leaderboard there with 970.
Alonso’s current slugging percentage is .536. He is third in that category behind Piazza at .542.
And Alonso has 1,113 total bases as of now. He is currently 20th there. Wright once again leads in that category at 2,945.
Alonso has already held current single-season hitting records in three of them. Home runs at 53 (2019), RBIs at 131 (2022), and total bases at 348 (2019).
Assuming the Mets give Alonso a long-term contract, there is no reason to believe that Alonso will keep putting up huge offensive numbers and set more franchise records, and perhaps major league records as well.
Along with some of his monster statistics he put up, Alonso keeps improving as a player. He already has established himself as one of the best power hitters in the game since his rookie year in 2019. Home runs and driving in runs, is his biggest specialty. But he has improved overall as a hitter. Alonso has gotten better in terms of hitting for average after batting a career-high .271 last season. He had a career-high 162 hits that season, showing that he is not just a home run hitter and has done a better job hitting the ball the other way. Alonso has also cut down on his strikeouts. After striking out 183 times in his rookie year, Alonso struck out 128 times last year, which is a huge drop from three years ago. Because he has a better judgment of the strike zone and is swinging less at pitches out of the zone.
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Defensively at first base, Alonso once was considered a liability. But just like Brandon Nimmo at center field, Alonso has gotten better every year at first, to the point where he is considered reliable at that position. The notion of putting Alonso in the Designated Hitter spot in the lineup is no longer put into much thought.
Alonso has a tremendous work ethic, and constantly works hard at improving as a baseball player. He looks at his deficiencies and keeps working to get better every off-season. It shows in his improved strike zone judgment and defense at first.
Finally, Alonso is a tremendous person who helps in the community and gets along with everyone around him. He has an enthusiasm that translates on the field, whether it’s him cheering when the Mets score runs, his interviews, etc. Alonso loves New York, their spotlight, and the passion their fans show, and the fans love him in return.
Alonso is in a terrific spot to succeed more. The Mets owner is the richest owner in baseball, who has spent crazy money to make the team into a World Series contender which the team is currently at. The Mets won 101 games last season and are expected to contend again this year. Cohen with his riches, is expected to re-sign Alonso to a long-term deal. If that’s the case, then Alonso can smash more offensive records and finish his career playing for the Mets. And with Cohen doing everything he can to make the Mets into contenders year in and out, Alonso can play for contending Mets teams year after year.
If Alonso helps the Mets win even one World Series title, he will be a legend here forever and with him expected to have more big seasons to come, he can end up being the best position player in franchise history ever.
Right now, the Mets’ best position players considered, are Hernandez, Strawberry, Piazza, and Wright. Hernandez and Strawberry won W.S. titles in 1986. But Hernandez was with the Mets for only seven seasons and his best years stat-wise, were with the St. Louis Cardinals. Strawberry started his career with the Mets but he did not finish his career in Queens. Piazza put up monster numbers as a Mets, but just like Hernandez, also only was with the team for 7 full seasons. Wright has started and finished his career with the Mets, and holds most of the franchise’s offensive records. But he did not finish his career strongly due to various injuries.
There’s an opportunity for Alonso to finish his career, playing only for the Mets. If so, Alonso will keep putting up more great offensive seasons, especially in the power department. He played in 160 games last season and has been pretty durable in his career. And he is currently playing for a Mets team in contention.
Along with his production as a player, which is expected to be powerfully big yearly, if Alonso can stay healthy towards the remainder of his career and especially if he helps the Mets win the World Series, he will officially be the great position player in franchise history.
