After not being utilized by the Major League club, the Mets sent Dominic Smith back down to Triple-A where his traditional first base position was already occupied by Peter Alonso.
For the past year, Smith and Alonso had been battling it out to see who was going to be the Mets first baseman of the future. In that time period, Smith has struggled while Alonso has thrived. That has especially been the case this year with a slimmed down Smith not being able to hit for any power in a hitter friendly Pacific Coast League, while Alonso has been drawing comparisons to Mark McGwire as he has leaped into Top 100 lists.
While it is interesting to debate them from afar, it is more interesting to see how they stack up when they are in the same lineup on a day-in and day-out basis.
Much like he has done for most of the 2018 season, Alonso has risen to the challenge.
Before Smith was sent back down to Triple-A, Alonso was hitting .196/.323/.477 while striking out in 28.5% of his plate appearances in the 29 games. Since he has been in the same lineup as Smith, he is hitting .289/.341/.421 with a homer and ten RBI in nine games.
Unfortunately for Smith, he has struggled, hitting .222/.293/.444 in his nine games bak in Vegas. On the bright side, he did put together a four game hitting streak where he was 6-for-16 with two homers and four RBI. At a minimum, that once again shows us Smith does have the talent to perform at this high a level, but again, the question remains if he can do this on a long term basis.
In total, we are seeing glimpses from both Alonso and Smith as to why they should be considered the Mets first baseman of the future. The question is when or if either is going to get a chance at the Major League level.
At the moment, they are being blocked by Wilmer Flores, Jose Bautista, and Austin Jackson not just for playing time but also roster spots on the Major League roster. After that, the Mets will have Jay Bruce, who may be better suited to first, and Yoenis Cespedes, who may be limited to first base after his double heel surgery. This is in addition to Flores, who was already playing over Smith when both were on the Major League roster.
In the end, while we are seeing Smith and Alonso battling head-to-head against one another to make the case why either one of them should be considered the Mets first baseman of the future, their real battle is with the Mets organization to prove why they should get the job over more established and much higher paid veterans.
Given how they are battling in Triple-A instead of the Majors, it does not seem as if they are going to get a fair enough shake to prove themselves . . . at least not this year.
