Pete Alonso is not in the Mets' starting lineup for Sunday's game against the Phillies.
Alonso is hitless in his nine at-bats against the Phillies during the weekend series, but Mets manager Luis Rojas thinks he is close to busting the door down.
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"He's been on and off," Rojas said of Alonso. "On and he's about to break out and be that guy, and all the sudden, he's off."
Alonso has appeared close to breaking out. After slumping early in the season, hitting just .167 in 12 games from July 30 to Aug. 11, Alonso seemed to have his stroke back, going 5 for 9 in the Mets' final two games against the Washington Nationals, Wednesday and Thursday.
But he has struck out four times this series.
"There's a variety of things that we saw yesterday and the day before," Rojas said.
However, any flaw that the Mets coaching sees, they'll easily be able to communicate it with their star first baseman who blasted a major-league rookie record 53 home runs last year.
"Pete is a hard worker," Rojas said. "He's always open to communication, he's great to coach, and that's why he's that close. I think he's close to get to that point where we're going to see Pete impacting the ball on a more consistent basis. Once we allow things down, we can shrink stuff for him, the focus area for him."