Mets' Pete Alonso is on a quest to hit 500 home runs (at least)

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Pete Alonso, noted appreciator of baseball history, knows his numbers, is aware of the sport-wide context and has mulled the math. He realizes this might sound gaudy. But, as always, he means it.

In the bigger picture of his career, he said, one of his major personal goals is to hit 500 home runs, a milestone that almost always ensures a player’s enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.

“It’s a crazy number to think about,” Alonso said, “but it’s something I for sure want to do.”

He paused for a beat before adding the next part.

“And hopefully hit way more than that,” he said.

This is something Alonso occasionally allows himself to think about. He has for years. In 2021, when he smacked his 100th long ball in his 347th game, the second-quickest sprint to that mark in major-league history, it dawned on him that some of those larger figures might be within reach — but only if he can stay healthy and good.

“As a player, all of us are fans,” he said. “It’s like, OK, this is cool to think about, but you can’t be a fan for too long. Cool thought, and then all right, tomorrow go back to work and do whatever you can to get yourself ready to perform.”

And get ready Alonso has. Through six seasons — or 5.37 when you count the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, as Alonso noted — he has 226 homers.

A healthy upcoming season very likely would feature him breaking the Mets’ all-time mark, of 252, held by Darryl Strawberry. So Alonso is positioned to pass the halfway point in just his seventh season.

Then the hard part will start: being productive through at least most of his 30s.

“You can’t get there without longevity and staying healthy,” said Alonso, who turned 30 in December.

A prominent reminder of just how difficult that is: Ryan Howard, who is the only batter to reach 100 faster than Alonso (325 games).

Howard had 253 home runs through his age-30 season. But he tore his Achilles tendon the next year, hit just 129 home runs from 31 onward and was done in the majors at 36.

“Anything can happen at any time because baseball can be a physical sport at times,” Alonso said. “I’ve done a good job of (being durable) previously. Yes, things eventually change. But right now I’m in a good spot and I’m going to continue to keep working, whether that be in the gym or the training room to stay on top of it.”

Since reaching the big leagues, Alonso ranks second in games played with 846 (behind Marcus Semien’s 859) and second in home runs (behind Aaron Judge’s 232).

What Alonso has going for him moving forward is his flexibility, hitting coach Eric Chavez said.

“If I could give anybody advice, strength is important, but to me flexibility is the No. 1 important thing, definitely, for longevity. And he definitely has it on his side,” said Chavez, who played 17 seasons in the majors. “When people think of Pete, they think of a big, muscular guy, brute force. But there are some other attributes to him that are going to really bode well for him longevity-wise.”

Is 500 home runs a reasonable goal?

If Alonso plays, say, nine more seasons — eight after this one — he’ll need to average about 31 per year to get there.

“Oh, it’s definitely in range,” Chavez said. “If last year was Pete’s worst year, you’re looking at an absolute monster.”

About that: Alonso had a middling 2024, by his standards. He went deep 34 times, his lowest total over a full season. It was a steep drop-off from 46 the year prior.

Part of what this season is about for Alonso is proving that was an aberration and not the start of a decline. Returning to the Mets on a two-year, $54 million contract — which contains an opt-out clause after the first year — allows him to try to show as much in a comfortable context.

Oh, and it affords him that primo opportunity to top Strawberry, whom Alonso described as “one of those guys that’s on the Mets Mount Rushmore.”

“He’s going to break it,” Strawberry said. “Records are meant to be broken. He’s a homegrown player — you root for him. You root for these guys. You don’t say, ‘Well, I don’t want this guy to break my record, I don’t want that guy.’ C’mon. That record has been up there for 35 years. It’s time to move on from me.”

And that, in Alonso’s vision of the future, will be just the start.

“There’s plenty of guys who you see after they turn the corner of 30, they find another level, whether it be knowledge, maturity, knowing who they are,” Alonso said. “I want to be part of that.”

Notes & quotes: Alonso hit his first homer of spring training, a three-run shot in the Mets’ 8-2 win over the Astros in West Palm Beach . . . David Peterson tossed five scoreless innings (two hits, three walks) . . . Brett Baty went 2-for-3 with a triple and a double. He also made a diving stop at second base. “He’s gotten comfortable,” Carlos Mendoza said . . . Mark Vientos finished the game defensively at first base because “we’re going to need that at times,” Mendoza said.

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.