Pete Alonso

Player Data: Age 25, B/T: R/R
Primary Stats: 57 G, 239 PA, 16 HR, 35 RBI, 24 BB , 61 SO, .231 BA, .326 OBP, .490 SLG, .817 OPS
Advanced Stats: .242 BABIP, .342 wOBA, 119 wRC+, 123 OPS+, 0.4 fWAR, 0.0 bWAR, -4 DRS, -3 OAA
Free Agent: 2025
2020 Salary: $652,521

Grade: B-

2020 Review:

Pete Alonso‘s 2019 rookie season was nothing less than a dream, yet now the young baseball star has the weight of everyone’s astronomical expectations placed on his shoulders. In 2019, the Florida native hit .260/.358/.583 with a whopping 53 home runs to lead the MLB, also placing top five in RBI as he batted in 120 runs.

Going into the delayed 2020 season, Alonso looked virtually nothing like himself. Maybe it was due to the lack of fans in the stands or the fragility of the season, but whatever it was the Polar Bear seemed to struggle greatly.

Taking a look into his batting stats, there isn’t much to be impressed by, or even happy with. The fact that he hit .231 wasn’t the real issue, because a guy like Alonso isn’t expected to hit above .275 with power like his. As long as Alonso hits the ball out of the park.

The problem was Alonso’s approach at the plate was pretty different this season, and not in a good way.

In 2019 his swing was tighter, giving him a more fluid follow-through. Yet this season his swing was much longer, with a more cast-like motion which led him to struggle when pitched balls inside the plate.

This led his discipline at the plate to waver as Alonso reached more frequently, eventually finishing the season striking out about 30% of the time.

Despite all this, Alonso did have some positive offensive aspects, as he set the MLB max exit velocity of 118.4 MPH, as well as tying for seventh in home runs at 16.

The final month of the season was promising for the slugger, as Alonso’s .955 OPS and 152 OPS+ in September were in line with his numbers during his great rookie campaign.

Looking at the comparisons of Alonso’s fielding from 2019 to 2020, somehow he became a worse defender with his DRS decreasing from -3 to -4. Compared to last season Alonso made only five errors compared to 12, which would be great if he didn’t play 75% fewer innings.

In 2019, Alonso was worth -4 OAA across 232 attempts with a success rate of 88%. This year he was worth -3 OAA in only 36 attempts, with a success rate that dropped off to just 78%.

2020 Key Moment

While most people were not thrilled to have Todd Frazier rejoin the Mets, it did seem to have a positive effect on Alonso. Using Frazier’s bat down the stretch, Alonso managed to regain some of his lost positivity and nuke 10 home runs out of the park in the month of September. This was after only hitting six in July and August combined.

One of the most memorable nights was Alonso’s walk-off against the Yankees on September 3rd, after a few really tough losses.

While he clearly endured the dreaded sophomore slump, Alonso seemed to slightly redeem himself with his late-season resurgence, reminding New York of the Pete Alonso they fell in love with.

2021 Outlook

To most people, Pete Alonso’s 2021 season seems pretty straightforward when it comes to his place in the starting lineup. The then 26-year-old will be penciled into the middle of the order everyday and expect to be the Mets main run producer. The question is more so what position will he be playing.

With the probability of the universal DH remaining in the NL being pretty high, there is a chance that Alonso will relinquish the starting first base duties in 2021.

Luis Rojas experimented with Alonso being the DH for some of the 2020 games and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him placed there more often with Dominic Smith getting a majority of the playing time at first base no matter who the 2021 manager is.

Beyond that, hopefully, Alonso will figure out the kinks in his batting approach, as he has so much potential offensively. The slugger really only needs to regain his confidence at the plate with a more efficient swing and he’ll be back to hitting missiles in no time.

Defensively he tends to have a very aggressive style that frequently doesn’t match up properly with his fellow infielders leading to miscommunication which will expectedly improve as he gains some more big-league experience.

Diving in deeper than the game itself, Alonso will expectedly continue to work on his philanthropy projects as well as be a light in the clubhouse, pumping up his teammates every chance he gets.