Pete Alonso Raking Again, Bearing Down On Home Run Records
Coming out of the All-Star break, New York Mets first baseman, rookie Pete Alonso, struggled mightily. Major-league hurlers, well-honed in their craft and ready, willing, and able to attack a hitter’s weaknesses, did so in spades against the Metsies’ slugging neophyte.
Breaking pitches down and away became Alonso’s Achilles heel (as noted in an outstanding Twitter thread via MMO’s Jacob Resnick earlier in the week), and pitchers preyed on him.
From July 12 — the Mets’ first day back to work — through the end of the month, the 24-year-old Florida native slashed .133/.321/.333 with four homers and four singles, striking out in 29.5 percent of his plate appearances over that span (23 strikeouts in 78 PA). His 19.2% walk rate was a silver lining, for sure.
But, make no mistake, Flushing’s very own arctic beast was knee-deep in his first prolonged major-league slump. Not that the Mets — who have gone 20-6 since the break — were suffering because of it, nor was Alonso’s carriage transforming back into a pumpkin, but there were minimal-to-mild concerns abound.
Though, as if on queue, once the calendar flipped to August, Alonso’s bat came alive once again. Over 34 plate appearances this month, including Friday night’s laser beam, two-run home run to inject a healthy dose of life into his team, as well as a packed-out Citi Field, Alonso’s gone 9-for-31 with four homers, two doubles, and eight RBIs.
His .438 weighted on-base average and 178 weighted runs created plus rating rank 18th and 16th among National League hitters over that span, so, apparently, things are on the upswing for Pete Alonso.
Pete’s fourth-inning blast (ahead of J.D. Davis‘ solo, game-tying shot in the next at-bat) on Friday was his 38th home run of the season and his fourth homer in as many games, one shy of Richard Hidalgo‘s franchise-record five-game dinger streak.
He now trails Los Angeles’ Cody Bellinger‘s NL rookie single-season record of 39 homers by one and, with around six weeks left in the season, is just three homers shy of the Mets’ single-season franchise record of 41 homers, held by Carlos Beltran (2006) and Todd Hundley (1996).
Alonso’s currently on pace to hit 53 home runs this season, which would break Aaron Judge‘s MLB rookie record of 52 homers, set in 2017.
After the game, Alonso spoke to the media corps regarding the Mets’ put-that-one-on-the-fridge win over the Nats on Friday, as well as the effect the raucous crowd at Citi Field brought to them.
“It was like magic out there. There’s no other way to describe it. The fans packed [Citi Field] out. It was rocking […] Thank you to all the fans who came out. Hopefully, you guys can come out tomorrow and create that same type of atmosphere, because that’s so difficult for opposing teams to come into […] For me, I was having a ball out there. There’s nothing like it […] We love that New York has our back.”
Exciting times, friends.