Pete Alonso smacked the 150th home run of his career Friday afternoon, a milestone shot that pushed him past Carlos Beltrán, a great Met, on the club’s all-time leaderboard.
Alonso now sits by himself in sixth place and anyone who cares about the Mets better get used to the big first baseman hammering his way through team history.
If Alonso sticks around these parts for any length of time, he’s going to conquer many, many club milestones on offense. Certainly the ones that have to do with career power and production. And that’s whether he swings a bat while sporting a mustache or clean-shaven or if he orders that Pancake Triple Play every morning.
Alonso’s homer, already his fourth of the season, was the final run in a 9-3 victory over the Marlins in the home opener at Citi Field. It wasn’t a crucial blast – no walk-off or game-winner -- but it was the second of back-to-back jacks with Francisco Lindor in the eighth inning and a nice exclamation point on a much-needed win after the Mets got swept this week in Milwaukee.
But, coupled with some attendant milestones, the homer should also serve as a reminder to appreciate the Mets slugger, from what he’s already accomplished to what may lie ahead. Not only is Alonso uber-talented, he’s a delight to watch. That’s surely part of the reason that kid in the seats in left-center was so excited that he caught Alonso’s homer ball. Also, proper credit: the kid made a nifty catch.
Home runs make fans happy and no one in Major League Baseball has hit as many home runs as Alonso has since his career started in 2019, not even the guy who hit 62 homers in just one season last year – Aaron Judge. Judge has 139 since the start of ‘19, second-most. Kyle Schwarber (129) is third.
On Friday, Alonso also became the second-fastest player in major league history to reach 150 career homers, doing it in just 538 games. Only Ryan Howard (495 games) did it faster.
After the game, Alonso was mostly mellow with reporters, noting, in part, that the victory was a “good foot to start off on.” He allowed that the home run “feels nice” and that he “was able to capitalize on a mistake.” He also threw some praise the rest of the lineup’s way, noting how happy he was “with the way we commanded the zone today.”
That’s OK. His assault on Mets history should be colorful enough. So move over, Darryl Strawberry, David Wright, Mike Piazza, Howard Johnson and the rest of the best hitters in team lore. The 28-year-old Alonso already holds single-season team marks such as homers (53 in 2019) and RBI (131 in 2022) and he’s coming for the career marks, too.
Dave Kingman (154 home runs) is next at No. 5. HoJo (192), in fourth place, might be gettable this year – it’d mean Alonso would hit 46 this season. Heck, by the time 2023 is in the books, Alonso could join Strawberry (252), Wright (242) and Piazza (220) as just the fourth Met to 200 career home runs. That’d mean 54 total for the season, but Alonso got all the way to 53 as a rookie and he’s still finding ways to improve now that he’s in his fifth full season.
Consider: Entering Friday, Alonso had a 14.4 percent strikeout rate over his previous 50 games, according to the Mets. That was the lowest strikeout rate over any 50-game stretch in Alonso’s career.
Overall this season, Alonso has whiffed in five of 31 at-bats, a 16.1 percent strikeout rate. If he carries that through the season, it would be the lowest of his career and he has trimmed his strikeout rate from 26 percent in 2019 and 2020 to 20 percent in 2021 and 19 percent last season.
Alonso making more contact? Sheesh. When he hits the ball, it can go a long way. Just look at what it’s done to the Mets’ record books.
So far.