Pete Alonso still has star power, and the Mets and everyone else shouldn't forget that
Pete Alonso of the New York Mets speaks to the media during All-Star Workout Day at Globe Life Field on July 15, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. Credit: Getty Images/Stacy Revere
ARLINGTON, Texas
Did the Mets deserve to have more than one player at the All-Star Game? Absolutely.
But when that lone Flushing flag-bearer is Pete Alonso, don’t take him for granted.
It’s been fashionable this month to say that Alonso wasn’t a worthy choice or that MLB cherry-picked the slugger to spice up Monday night’s Home Run Derby at Globe Life Field.
You certainly can make a case for both.
Still, when it comes to repping the Mets, there’s no one in the Citi Field clubhouse who has done it more, on the big stage, than Alonso. And if that stage happens to be the Derby, that’s nothing to mock.
We’re old enough to remember when Alonso smashing baseballs into the night skies of Cleveland (2019) and Denver (2021) was all the franchise had to crow about, aside from Jacob deGrom’s mastery being squandered en route to another empty October in Queens.
Alonso doing pre-Derby squats in the weight room, or flexing for the camera as fireworks exploded overhead, was just part of the bit. As former Mets general manager Sandy Alderson liked to say, “This is an entertainment business.”
And it just so happens that Alonso’s specialty is what people come to see, whether it’s at the Midsummer Classic or during the dog days of August. Chop this stat up any way you like, but it’s a fact that no one in the majors has hit more than Alonso’s 211 homers since his rookie year in 2019, even if Aaron Judge (208) was rapidly catching up by hammering 34 by the break this season.
That’s not to be underestimated. There’s a reason they don’t hold a Doubles Derby as part of the All-Star festivities. Fans dig the long ball — the longer the better — and Alonso is good at giving the people what they want.
In Monday’s Derby, however, Alonso came up a little short. After stepping to the plate to “OMG,” he hit 12 homers in the first round and did not advance.
How far the pending free agent will go with the Mets remains to be seen. As Alonso sat at the podium for Monday’s media session, he was flanked by agent Scott Boras, a not-so-subtle reminder of the expiration date looming in Flushing.
While Boras had a small army of lieutenants deployed at his clients’ podiums throughout the stadium’s outfield, only two were lorded over by the boss himself: Alonso and this winter’s top free-agent prize, Juan Soto.
Unlike Soto, however, Alonso wasn’t neutral about his feelings. He repeatedly expressed his loyalty to the Mets and his hope for both the immediate and long-term future.
Even when it was suggested to Alonso that he wouldn’t be saddled with a qualifying-offer tag if he were dealt by the July 30 trade deadline — a radioactive label that hurts a player’s negotiating leverage — he didn’t flinch.
“I love New York, I love the Mets, I love being in Queens,” Alonso said. “I’m super-happy to be a Met, super-proud to be a Met. It’s just been awesome. I’d love to stay. I don’t want to get traded. It’s home.”
If those remarks seem to deviate from the usual Boras playbook, there probably are a couple of reasons for that. One, the recent free-agent market for first basemen will make it difficult for Alonso to get to $200 million elsewhere, a number that likely prompted his switch to Boras last offseason. And two, Alonso isn’t exactly killing it during his walk year, hitting .240 with 19 homers, 51 RBIs and a .773 OPS through 95 games.
That’s a 32-homer pace, which would be Alonso’s lowest total for a full season (he hit 37 in 152 games in 2021). Given his streaky nature, however, he’s also capable of going on a second-half heater that would melt what we’ve perceived to be a slight chill around the Polar Bear among the Flushing faithful.
NL East rivals still view Alonso as the engine of the franchise.
“When you think about the Mets, I think about Pete,” said Bryce Harper, the $330 million cornerstone of the Phillies. “There’s not many guys that have power like Pete.”
Harper, who switched to first base himself last season while coming back from Tommy John surgery, has a deeper appreciation for Alonso based on how he’s performed in Flushing — not the easiest place to call home, to put it mildly. Harper has witnessed that cauldron up close for the past 13 years.
“When people go into free agency, teams should look at that, what he does for a fan base and a team like the Mets in New York City,” Harper said. “Same thing with the Yankees, Philly, Chicago. The bigger markets and organizations . . . People don’t realize how tough that is. But he’s been able to do that and he’s been that guy.”
For Monday’s Derby, Alonso was wearing those same royal-blue pinstripes, the scripted Mets logo across his chest, the only uniform he’s ever known. He isn’t the MVP of his team’s spectacular first-half resurgence — that’s either Francisco Lindor or Brandon Nimmo, the two All-Star snubs — but he was the only Met competing on the national stage, and that’s worth something. Even if we don’t know the dollar signs yet.
“These next two days, I want to represent Queens the best way I can,” he said. “And lay it all out there.”
For Alonso, it’s what he does better than almost anyone else: show up and swing for the fences.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
