Reporters in St. Louis on Monday asked New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso to assess his season since he got dropped to fifth in the batting order for that game amid struggles with runners in scoring position. He said beating himself up over some things was of no use. Alonso mentioned how he was picked as an All-Star this season. And he estimated that he was on pace for “close to 40 home runs.”
Alonso was right — mostly. He indeed made the All-Star team for the fourth time and as the Mets’ lone representative. But, as The Athletic previously reported, Major League Baseball’s desire for Alonso to participate in the Home Run Derby influenced the selection. And when Alonso answered the question ahead of Monday’s game, he was actually on pace for about 33 home runs. So with those comments coming after a series loss to the lowly Los Angeles Angels, many New York fans expressed a predictable level of exasperation.
But then Thursday happened.
Alonso hit two massive home runs, totaling 925 feet, within the first three innings — and, yes, before the score became lopsided — of the Mets’ series-winning 9-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies at hitter-friendly Coors Field.
Pete Alonso has hit two homers a combined 925 feet today.
Oh, and it’s only the third inning 🤯 pic.twitter.com/7wUvLGoQaA
— MLB (@MLB) August 8, 2024
With 25 home runs through the Mets’ first 115 games, Alonso’s home-run pace improved to about 35. It’s still not 40. But Alonso clarified Thursday to reporters that it doesn’t have to be; milestones are great, he said, but he’s focused on just helping the team win.
The Mets (61-54) matched a season-best seven games above .500 and moved into playoff contention by leapfrogging the spiraling Atlanta Braves (60-54) for the National League’s final wild-card spot. The Mets have 47 games left.
There’s still time for Alonso to produce a torrid stretch, the kind where he carries the Mets for a month or so like he’s quite capable of. In 2024, he has yet to have a month where he’s either hit at least 10 home runs or eclipsed a .900 OPS. Every other season, he has surpassed at least one of those figures in at least one month, sometimes topping both multiple times. Maybe August — he’s off to a strong start with a .320 batting average and three home runs — becomes that kind of month for Alonso.
For both Alonso and the Mets, such timing would provide a lift. There’s a lot at stake. For the team, the playoff race remains tight. And from an individual perspective, Alonso has entered the home stretch of a platform season ahead of free agency.
The numbers suggest Alonso has had a solid yet unspectacular season. Entering play Thursday, among first basemen in the majors, Alonso ranked second in home runs (behind only Bryce Harper and Josh Naylor, and he tied them both by hitting two on Thursday), seventh in wRC+ (123), seventh in OPS (.789) and eighth in fWAR (1.6).
He is used to better numbers. He has hit at least 40 home runs in three of his previous four full seasons (in 2021, he hit 37). He has a career 132 wRC+ and .858 OPS. His fWAR usually checks in somewhere between 3.0 and 4.0.
And while his hard-hit rate (42.6 percent), walk rate (9.9 percent) and strikeout rate (21.7 percent) all resemble his career norms, his ground-ball rate (42.4 percent) is up and his numbers with runners in scoring position stand out as uncharacteristic. Anecdotally, the grounders have come at inopportune times, like in late and close situations. For his career, Alonso owns a .910 OPS with runners in scoring position. Yet ahead of Thursday’s game, Alonso with runners in scoring position in 2024 had just a .694 OPS with three home runs. In a positive step for Alonso on Thursday, his first home run of the game happened with J.D. Martinez on second base to make it 4-0.
Alonso’s big game pushed his second-half numbers to six home runs with a .980 OPS. Before the All-Star break, he had 19 home runs with a .772 OPS. For his career, Alonso has had a better OPS in the second half (.877) versus in the first half (.849).
In the debate over whether Alonso is having a good season or not — it’s a fair fight with some good numbers and some poor ones — a big second half can go a long way. Consider: Thursday marked just his second multi-homer game of the season and first since April 13. His three hits were tied for his most in a game this season.
A few weeks ago, Alonso told The Athletic that the most fun he has had with the Mets wasn’t in 2019 when he hit 53 home runs as a rookie — it was in 2022, when the club made the playoffs. People close to him insist that’s true, and it’s not hard to believe, given how much time Alonso puts in to try to improve at things like defense.
Thursday’s game served as a reminder that in 2024, there’s still just enough time for Alonso to post desirable individual numbers while leading the team to the postseason.
(Photo: Justin Edmonds / Getty Images)
