While the Mets suffered an excruciating loss in Los Angeles Wednesday night, there is at least a tidbit of good news that came of it. Before Edwin Diaz blew a three-run lead while recording only one out (on the game-winning sacrifice fly), Pete Alonso had already hit two home runs.
With those two home runs, Alonso continues to tie, break, and set home run records, some for rookies and some for anyone; Some Mets records and some for all of MLB.
- He tied the MLB rookie record with 19 home runs before June 1st (Mark McGwire 1987)
- Set a new Mets rookie record with 10 home runs in a single month
- Tied the Mets record for extra base hits (31) in the team’s first 55 games of the season (Edgardo Alfonzo 2000)
- The most multi-home run games (3) of any Mets player in his 1st 54 career games
- The only other Met with even two multi-HR games in his 1st 54 is Benny Agbayani
Alonso is also approaching another Mets record, tying Ike Davis and and Ron Swoboda for second most home runs by a Mets rookie with 19. Darryl Strawberry had 26 in 122 games in 1983, but as it’s still only May, Alonso has a good chance of obliterating that record.
Aaron Judge hit the most home runs ever by a rookie with 52 in 2017. Through 54 games (the amount Alonso has played), Judge had 18 home runs (and only two multi-home run games). Cody Bellinger set the record for most home runs by a National League rookie in 2017 as well, with 39. Through his first 54 games, Bellinger had 22 home runs (five multi-home run games), but then hit only 17 home runs through his last 78 games.
While hitting 52 home runs this season is a bit of a long shot, approaching or even surpassing Bellinger’s NL Rookie record is absolutely realistic.
This guy is really fun to watch, and seems to be everything he was cracked up to be.
