Photo By Logan Barer/MMO
In an article from SNY, New York Mets special assistant J.P. Ricciardi talked up prospect Peter Alonso‘s defensive capability and expected ceiling at first base. Speaking with John Harper, Ricciardi seems quite confident that Alonso, 23, has the tools to field his position at the major league level.
His offensive development is right on track, if not ahead of schedule. In 132 games split — fairly equally, in fact — between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Las Vegas, the Florida native hit a combined .285/.395/.579 with 36 homers, 31 doubles, and 119 runs batted in.
In 26 at-bats with the Scottsdale in the Arizona Fall League, Alonso is hitting .385/.484/.692 with two home runs, two doubles, and seven RBI. Clearly, his bat isn’t what’s keeping him from reaching the big club.
As has been discussed at length since he was drafted by the Mets in 2016 (second round out of Florida University), Alonso’s defense is considered a liability by some. In three MiLB seasons (220 games), he’s committed 28 errors and showed below average range.
While that may not be a glaring — or all that important — smudge on his record, it’s left fans and pundits wondering aloud if Alonso can take that next step in his defensive progress.
Fortunately for Alonso, it appears as if the Mets have his back in this quest to improve that facet of his game. Ricciardi expresses faith and patience in the young slugger’s process, as per Harper.
“He’s never going to be a Gold Glover but he can play the position. And I think his power is going to play at the big-league level, which would be very valuable,” he said. “With the work he’s done, he’ll be every bit as good as Lucas Duda was [at first base].”
An MLB scout weighed in on the subject and gave a perfect example of the give-and-take, hope-for-the-best nature of judging prospects’ ceilings.
“For me, he’s still below-average defensively — agility, footwork, handling throws — but you can see he’s gotten better […],” the scout said. “I’ll say this; the way he hits, you’ll live with his defense at first base.”
With the current logjam at first for the Mets with Jay Bruce, Wilmer Flores, and fellow up-and-comer Dominic Smith all vying for playing time, Alonso will have to stand out to get a shot at making the team’s Opening Day roster. But Ricciardi believes it’s only a matter of time before the big fella gets his shot.
“That stuff will work itself out. Alonso is going to play first base for us at some point. It’s just a matter of when he’s ready.”
Whoever the Mets tab as their next general manager will have to rearrange some pieces on his board in order to accommodate a talent such as Peter Alonso. He’s knocking at the MLB door pretty hard.
Editors Note from Mike M.
I recently had an opportunity to talk to a couple of people that have seen Alonso in the AFL, and both of them put a 40 grade on his defense. While that not might jump out at you, it’s a significant improvement from the 25-35 I heard before the regular season started.
Alonso has worked hard over the last calendar season, during Instructional League, regular season and now AFL, to improve his defense knwoing it to be a weakness in his game.
Tim Teufel, now Mets’ roving minor league infield instructor, has worked with Alonso on multiple occasions to improve his defense.
