Pete Alonso shows no signs of slowing down
Pete Alonso of the Mets celebrates his third-inning two-run home run against the Phillies with his teammates at Citi Field on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Don’t think of Pete Alonso, RBI machine, as the next Darryl Strawberry, Mike Piazza or Gary Carter — the Mets sluggers he’s chasing down this month.
More like Picasso. Or Monet. Only with a bat.
“Driving in runs, I think it can be an art form,” Alonso said before Sunday night’s series finale against the Phillies at Citi Field.
What did he mean by that? Well, modern analytics don’t love the RBI stat, mainly because it’s too dependent on other factors, such as other people in the lineup getting on base. With that in mind, I asked Alonso the significance of the stat to him personally, with his 46 RBIs (entering Sunday) leading the National League and only the Guardians’ Jose Ramirez having more (48).
“At the end of the day, the goal of the game is to score more runs than the other team,” Alonso said. “Granted, OPS may be a sexier stat — that represents a great individual effort. But I think RBIs, for me, I’m putting runs on the board to help my team win. Scoring runs is the entire goal of being on offense, so that’s incredibly important.”
On his current pace, Alonso would be looking at 155 RBIs by season’s end, which would be the most since Alex Rodriguez’s 156 for the Yankees in his MVP season in 2007. A-Rod played 158 games that year, a goal that’s not considered prudent these days.
Which sort of makes Alonso an outlier, and could give him the opportunity to chase A-Rod in that department. Not only has Alonso played in all 49 of the Mets’ games to this point, he’s played in 97% (419 of 433) of the team’s games since his 2019 debut, including 161 during that Rookie of the Year season.
“I think the best ability of any player in the big leagues is availability,” Alonso said. “Because it doesn’t matter how talented you are, if you’re not available to play, then you’re not really bringing a lot to the table. So I pride myself on staying healthy and taking precautions.”
Alonso credited his faceguard for helping to keep him in the lineup — he took a fastball off it the second day of the season, saving him from a catastrophic injury — but it will be interesting to see how long the Mets decide to let his playing streak continue. Before Sunday’s game, Buck Showalter mentioned that they consult the same data charts other teams do when mapping out a player’s workload, and certainly made it sound as if Alonso won’t be getting to 162.
But when do the Mets pick their spot? Do they wait for Alonso to cool off first, thinking he needs a blow? Or does it make more sense to do it preemptively to avoid potential wear-and-tear down the line?
Alonso has raked this month, entering Sunday hitting .313 with eight homers, 29 RBIs and a .978 OPS — production that makes him awfully tough to sit for a breather. On Sunday, the Mets were without Brandon Nimmo (wrist) and Jeff McNeil (rest), so that was no time for a break.
One obvious advantage is the DH, where he started Sunday night for the 14th time in 49 games. That’s a way to get Alonso off his legs, as Showalter put it, but there’s still a physical and mental strain involved. “We look at volume, and effort, and different things,” Showalter said. “With all of our guys, there’s a lot of high-intensity effort. But there’s also a flip side to that, too. It’s something you have to monitor. People say, ‘Well that’s not the way it’s been done.’ Maybe they were wrong. Shame on us if we don’t learn from things. Try to make things better.”
Alonso was on the verge of making more franchise history. He already had tied Bernard Gilkey (1996) for the most RBIs through the team’s first 48 games and he’s just the third Met to drive in 40 before Memorial Day. As for the single-month record, Alonso’s 29 RBIs were tied for ninth. Next up at 30 was Piazza, Strawberry and Tommie Agee. Carter sits atop that list with 34 in September 1985.
On Sunday, all of those greats were vulnerable.
“I just want to stay as locked in as possible, regardless of the situation,” Alonso said. “I’ve had a lot of great opportunities, thanks to my teammates. They’ve done an unbelievable job this year. And also, for me, if they’re on first base, they’re in scoring position with a double — or myself, I’m in scoring position every time I go up there.”
Alonso is in the business of driving in runs. And business has never been better.
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.
