Pete Alonso Caps Off Historic April in Walk-Off Style

It started as it always does in Major League Baseball for a rookie. In spring training, fighting for a job, hoping to come north with the team and be part of a big league roster. Pete Alonso, the former Peter of Port St. Lucie, was no different. He was coming off a terrific year in the minors stroking 36 home runs and knocking in 119 runs. But he had to work to win his job which he hoped would be the starting first basemen of the New York Mets. And despite an excellent spring training by fellow first basemen Dominic Smith, win it he did. He wasted little time getting started.

Thursday, March 28, 2019, was Opening Day for the Mets against the Washington Nationals. Pete Alonso, 24, was in the lineup batting second. He had gone 0-3 with two strikeouts when he came to bat against Nationals’ pitcher Justin Miller in the eighth inning. Alonso smacked a hard single to center field for his first major league hit.

Two days later against the same Nationals, Alonso stroked his first extra-base hit with a double off of Stephen Strasburg. The hit scored Noah Syndergaard to account for Alonso’s first major league RBI. In that game, an 11-8 Mets victory, Alonso went three for four (including a second double) with two RBIs.

On April 1, against the Miami Marlins, Pete Alonso hit his first major league home run. He was 0-4 in the game with two strikeouts when he came to the plate in the ninth inning with two men on base. Alonso didn’t waste any time as on the first pitch he saw from Marlins’ reliever Drew Steckenrider, he clubbed a three-run homer to the deepest part of Marlins Park. The ball traveled 444 feet and had an exit velocity of nearly 113 miles per hour. The pitch Alonso hit was a 95 mph fastball.

Alonso’s second home run was off the Nationals on April 6 and his third was the very next day, also against Washington. His first (and to date only) multi-homer game came two days later when he socked two against the Minnesota Twins.

His first major league triple was on April 28 against the Milwaukee Brewers. It was off of Gio Gonzalez in the first inning of an eventual 5-2 Mets victory.

Prior to that triple, Mr. Alonso became a history-making rookie.

In his first ten games of his big league career, Alonso’s line slashed a remarkable .385/.429/.923. He became the first player in modern MLB history (since 1900) to have at least 11 extra-base hits in his first 10 career games according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Some other stats of note:

• Alonso is one of eight players in MLB history with 14 or more RBI in his first 10 career games. The 14 RBI in his first 10 games are a Mets record.
• His 15 hits are tied for most ever by a Mets player through 10 games (with Mike Vail).
• Is the second Mets player with a multi-homer game within his first 10 games (Mike Jacobs is the other).

As if that’s not enough for a young rookie’s first month, more history was made on April 27 in an 8-6 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. In the seventh inning off of Brewers’ reliever Alex Claudio, Alonso blasted a three-run home run giving him his ninth four-bagger before May 1. The nine home runs before May 1 matched the total of four other Mets: Neil Walker (2016), John Buck (2013), Carlos Delgado (2006) and Dave Kingman (1976) for the most homers by any Met before the first of May. It also tied Darryl Strawberry’s rookie record for home runs in any month. Darryl hit nine four-baggers in August of 1983.

Alonso tied the club record for RBI before May 1 with 26 also held by Jeff Kent. His 18 extra-base hits before May 1 are a new team record. Needless to say he has made quite a splash in the major leagues, whether it’s from the record stats he’s accomplished so far as a rookie or the splash he made at SunTrust Park in Atlanta on April 11 when he smoked a 454 foot home run to deep center field that landed in a pool of water. That hit left his bat at 118.3 miles-per-hour and was the hardest-hit homer in Mets history since Statcast was implemented. He joined Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton as having stroked the hardest-hit home runs in the Statcast era.

Pete ends April with 106 at-bats, 31 hits, 26 RBIs and 14 walks. His slash line is an impressive .292/.382/.642. He leads the Mets in home runs and RBIs and is among the league leaders in both of these categories.

And to put a bow around the month, on Tuesday, April 30, Alonso hit a walk-off sacrifice fly against the Cincinnati Reds to give the Mets a 4-3, ten-inning victory. It was the first walk-off of his major league career (no doubt the first of many).

It has been quite a start to a young career for Pete Alonso. But what can’t be overlooked is the positive spirit he brings to the team. Whether its a bear-hug to Dominic Smith or a top of the dugout step cheer, his positive and youthful exuberance have been infectious. It is not a stretch to suggest that if this continues, he could someday be the face of the franchise and perhaps even a Mets captain.

As May begins and as the rest of the season begins to unfold, Mets fans can only hope that his strong start continues and that he becomes a Met fixture for many years to come. He certainly has the tools, the attitude, and the poise to contend for Rookie of the Year, an honor that would befit a young man who has captivated baseball and has fans, scouts and experts alike predicting great things for this New York Mets prodigy.