Pete Alonso's return to form a must for Mets
Mets first baseman Pete Alonso looks on from the dugout before an MLB game against the Phillies at Citi Field on Monday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Only the bases take the field more regularly than Pete Alonso, so you can understand why the idea of sitting on the bench — even for a few innings — was not something he recognized as a remedy.
But for whatever reason, the cumulative effect of this very big season for Alonso, a pending free agent on top of being the cleanup hitter/face of the franchise, had the Polar Bear in relative hibernation at the plate through the first five weeks. And the tunnel vision that comes with trying to plow through a .206 start, along with the yoke of a .715 OPS, is not so easy to identify from inside that torture tube.
In that sense, Alonso is lucky to have first-year manager Carlos Mendoza, who finally drew the line once his three-time All-Star reached proverbial rock bottom (1-for-29) upon the team’s arrival in St. Louis last week. Sitting a player is never an easy conversation. But when it’s Alonso, who prides himself on playing 150-plus games a year and was the only Met to make every start to that point, that’s a whole different level of ask.
Still, Mendoza realized it had to be done. The key was telling Alonso the night before last Tuesday’s series opener at Busch Stadium just so the slugger could power down for an evening.
“You just sleep differently knowing you won’t be in the lineup,” Mendoza said, recalling his thoughts behind the decision. “He knew there was going to be scenarios for him to get in that game. But at least he could get a break for a night, a chance to recharge a little.”
Removing the sport’s most prolific home run hitter from a lineup that hadn’t been killing the ball lately was a considerable risk on Mendoza’s part. But that’s precisely why it was so important. Getting Alonso right for the long term far outweighed any brief absence, especially with no guarantee that he’d automatically snap out of this.
Based on what’s transpired since, that bold move to sit him has paid immediate dividends. Alonso drilled two more bullets Monday in the Mets’ 5-4 loss to the Phillies, a 109-mph double and 111-mph single, quieting any concern about his hard-hit rate this season. He’s on an 8-for-20 tear (.400) with four doubles, one homer and six RBIs, boosting his batting average to .230 with a .775 OPS, a modest but welcome increase.
When asked if that Busch breather was the trigger to his current surge, Alonso replied, “It’s not necessarily that simple.” But he did acknowledge that Mendoza’s intervention was a contributing factor (even though Alonso wound up entering that May 6 game in the sixth inning).
“At the end of the day, Carlos writes the lineups and his decision is his decision,” Alonso told Newsday. “I respect it no matter what. I’m just happy it worked out to where we won the game, so it was definitely the right choice. I think seeing the game in a different perspective was useful, but realistically I think the biggest help has been [hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes] and advice from my teammates.”
Alonso singled out the voices of Harrison Bader and Jeff McNeil — his two locker neighbors at Citi Field — along with J.D. Martinez, who showed him some beneficial video.
“It takes a village,” he said.
The pressure of Alonso’s contract situation, however, is something that he shoulders alone. He can’t just be in a slump like anyone else this season. With any significant dip in production, people reflexively bring up the riches at stake and how that could be weighing on him in the batter’s box.
With that in mind, I asked Alonso about a report from the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, who said he had turned down a seven-year, $158 million offer from the Mets during the offseason. Alonso declined to comment on the matter, saying that in general he won’t address any contract discussions.
As for his looming free agency, Alonso dismissed that as having any impact on his performance, emphasizing that his preparation and goals remain unchanged. The contract wasn’t the culprit in regards to his recent tailspin.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “It’s just about focusing on winning baseball games and doing what I can every single day. If I don’t feel like I’m doing a good job, then it’s frustrating. There’s ups and downs in the game. I’m just happy that I feel more like myself, that I’m back to being myself again.”
Alonso certainly looked like himself the past two nights, and he twice delivered game-tying RBIs in the Mets’ 4-3 comeback victory over Atlanta on Sunday. He pulled a two-out single (97.2 mph) down the third-base line in the third inning and followed up in the sixth with a 103.4-mph double to the right-centerfield gap (on a warmer night, the rocket would have landed in the Mets’ bullpen).
“I wouldn’t say that specific night was a breaking point,” Alonso said. “I just think that it was about damn time. Things were trending towards that happening eventually.”
The Mets can forget about a legit wild-card pursuit without a dangerous Alonso. And if sitting for those few innings in St. Louis helped in any way to spur his turnaround, it was a tiny price to pay.
The big bill for the homegrown star comes due at season’s end.
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.