Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Pete Alonso has appeared to have shaken off the early season rust and is starting to settle into a groove for the New York Mets.

It took a few games for both Alonso and the Mets offense as a whole to find their rhythm. The offense was shut down by the Milwaukee Brewers, while Alonso was hitting just .136 through the first six games of the 2023 season. He also had just one home run and two RBIs during that stretch too.

However, after shaving his mustache and switching back to his tried-and-tested axe-handle bat for the final game of the series against the Brewers, Alonso began to reap instant results. He clubbed two home runs against an elite pitcher in Corbin Burnes, driving in four RBIs and displaying the type of pure power that has made Alonso one of the most dangerous hitters in the game.

He followed that up with another big day at the plate on Friday against the Marlins, blasting his third home run in his last two games as the Mets won their home opener 9-3. Alonso launched an absolute bomb to center field after Francisco Lindor had also homered in the previous at-bat.

Alonso is now slashing .226/.314/.645/.960 with a 147 OPS+ to go along with four homers and eight RBIs. After a slowish start, the slugger is now starting to really find his game and entered Friday with a 14.4 percent strikeout rate in his previous 50 games, according to the Mets. That was the lowest rate over any 50-game stretch in Alonso’s career and, on pace for the lowest strikeout rate of his career, it was clear on Friday that he was seeing the ball more clearly than ever.

“Just seeing the ball and capitalizing when it’s in my area,” Alonso said after the game. “One through nine we didn’t give in the entire day and that led to a positive result one through nine. We were excellent.”

Friday also proved to be a special day for Alonso outside of the usual Home Opener festivities. In hitting his fourth homer of the year, he also clubbed the 150th home run of his career. It was a meaningful milestone that made Alonso just the sixth player in Mets history to reach the 150 plateau. He moved past Carlos Beltran on the all-time leaderboard and is now just four homers away from tying Dave Kingman for fifth all-time in franchise history.

Given what Alonso has already accomplished in his Major League career, it is not a stretch to suggest that he could eventually take down Darryl Strawberry‘s franchise record of 252 homers with the Mets. After all, Alonso has time on his side and, as long as he signs a long-term contract with the team, there should be no barriers in his way when it comes to attempting to become the new Home Run King in Queens.

Consider this; no player has hit more dingers in Major League Baseball as Alonso has since he entered the bigs in 2019. His 150 career homers in that span are more than Aaron Judge (139) and Kyle Schwarber (129). That stat alone tells you just how dominant Alonso has been from day one.

There was more history created on Friday, too. Not only did Alonso reach the 150 home run mark, but he did it in record time too. Well, almost. He became the second-fastest player in major league history to achieve the milestone, doing it in just 538 career games. Only Phillies icon Ryan Howard did it faster (495 games).

Given that Alonso is improving all the time, he’s making more contact and is finding a way to strike out less too, more franchise records will likely fall and the masher could end up as an all-time Met when it comes to power and production. For now, however, the fact Alonso is starting to really destroy baseballs on a regular basis will only help the Mets as they look to gather some momentum early on in the 2023 season.