Mets slugger Pete Alonso drops brace, takes grounders during batting practice as he continues injury rehab

With a glove on his left hand as he bounced around the infield dirt, Pete Alonso looked an awful lot like a ballplayer Tuesday afternoon. 

He fielded ground balls at first base and ran in the outfield during Mets batting practice, positive signs as he recovers from the left wrist sprain and bone bruise suffered last week. 

The night before, at his charity event in Huntington, Alonso wore a left arm brace/splint over his suit. 

“He’s progressing well. He’s starting to do some things,” manager Buck Showalter said. “Little by little. Hopefully he’ll get there sooner rather than later . . . We’re happy with how it’s progressing compared to how it could be progressing, which is not at all.”

Alonso declined to comment, saying he had more rehab-related work to do before the Mets played the Yankees. 

Showalter mentioned that “we know when he’s eligible” to return from the injured list, which is Sunday. But it is not clear if that is relevant. The Mets said at the time of Alonso’s injury that it usually takes three or four weeks to recover. That would mean a late June or early July return. 

Upon receiving follow-up questions about that topic, Showalter said the Mets have to see how this week plays out. 

“It’s not imminent,” he said.  

Despite not playing for close to a week, Alonso still led the majors with 22 home runs entering play Tuesday. He also was atop the NL RBI leaderboard with 49. 

Game time for Quintana 

Jose Quintana began a rehabilitation assignment Tuesday night by tossing 1 1/3 innings and throwing 26 pitches for Low-A St. Lucie. He allowed two hits and a walk. He had been penciled in for two innings. 

Since the Mets want Jose Quintana to be able to pitch more than five innings upon his return — and have described this as a personal spring training of sorts — Quintana remains weeks away from joining the major-league club. 

Penciled in as the No. 4 starter after signing a two-year, $26 million contract in December, Quintana has been out since mid-March because of a rib injury that required surgery. 

As the rotation turns 

Tylor Megill will start Friday against the Cardinals, his normal spot in the rotation, Showalter said. Kodai Senga will go Saturday. 

Showalter previously hinted that the Mets might take advantage of two off days this week by skipping somebody’s start and adding a reliever. 

Minors details 

Ronny Mauricio, one of the Mets’ top prospects, suffered a left ankle bone bruise and is day-to-day, the Mets said. 

The 22-year-old shortstop — who recently began playing second base and learning leftfield — hurt his ankle while covering second base during a May 4 game. Then he played in four games, going 2-for-16 with no extra-base hits, and when it still bothered him a week later, the Mets brought him to New York City to get checked out. 

Extra bases 

The Mets released veteran reliever Tommy Hunter. They outrighted Stephen Nogosek to Triple-A Syracuse. Both were designated for assignment last week . . . Among the minor-leaguers who recently received promotions: Luke Ritter, a 26-year-old infielder who joined Triple-A Syracuse after crushing Double-A pitching with Binghamton. He hit 11 homers in his final 15 games at that level . . . Showalter on the defense of rookie catcher Francisco Alvarez: “He’s got a lot of things to do. Still. Fly balls, some things with the throwing errors, sometimes overaggressive. None of us are a finished product. But he’s learning from things . . . There’s things that we all can improve on, but he’s off to good start at a very young age. We’re proud of him.”

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.