The impact and value that first baseman Pete Alonso has brought to the table is no secret at this point.
The 24-year-old-rookie has exceeded even optimists’ expectations to this point, having batted .271/.375/.604, good for a 152 wRC+ and 4.2 fWAR, along with a blistering 40 home runs and 95 RBI.
As the baseball season has begun to mature into the stretch run, Alonso’s campaign has begun to transform into not just an impressive start for a rookie, but an all-time great season in the history of the Mets franchise for any player.
Alonso easily shattered the all-time Mets home run record for rookies back on June 23, when he hit his 27th bomb to pass the mark of 26 set by Darryl Strawberry in 1983. He also set the home run record for any NL rookie on just this recent Sunday, when he hit his 40th blast to top Cody Bellinger‘s record of 39 he set in 2017.
No matter how the rest of Alonso’s season plays out, it will very easily go down as the best season by a rookie in the team’s history. So much so that Alonso is past trying to break rookie records; going into the final stretch of the season, he’s going for some of the team’s all-time offensive records set by any player.
Alonso is closest to breaking the Mets all-time single-season home run record, which is a tie between Carlos Beltran (2006) and Todd Hundley (1996) with 41 homers. With over a month to go, Alonso has already hit 40, so barring injury, he should pass that mark with no problem, perhaps even within the next week or so.
Alonso has a strong chance of setting the single-season record extra base hits, which also belongs to Beltran (2006), who’s tied with Howard Johnson (1989) with 80 extra base hits.
As of now, Alonso has 67. According to FanGraphs, Steamer projects Alonso to record 156 more plate appearances this year, a span in which he is projected to hit seven doubles and 10 home runs, so 17 more extra base hits. If he were to do that, he would comfortably break the record, finishing with 85 extra base hits.
The Mets single-season RBI record is also not out of reach. The present leader is currently a tie between Mike Piazza (1999) and David Wright (2008) with 124. That’s some good company Alonso’s competing with.
With 94 RBI right now, it would take some hot hitting to break that record, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility. Steamer projects him to hit 24 more RBI, in which case he would fall just short with 119. However, that would still put him fourth all-time on the Mets single-season RBI leaderboard.
Additionally, Alonso’s slugging percentage (.604) in a single season currently ranks third in franchise history, behind only two Piazza seasons (.614 and .607). His current OPS (.979) ranks seventh.
“It’s crazy,” Alonso reacted on Sunday after breaking the MLB rookie home run record. “I don’t even know. It’s something that, coming into camp, I didn’t know if I was gonna make the team or not.”
Alonso’s surely done a lot more than just make the team at this point, as he is beginning to enter territory occupied only by some of the greatest players in franchise history.
Going forward, Alonso said that he wants “to keep playing the way that I’ve been playing. Just trying to help this team win. This season’s been unbelievable, it’s been a dream come true so far, so I just want to keep building off of it and keep trying to help this team win.
“We’ve got a big homestand coming up, just want to keep hitting the ball hard and keep contributing and helping the team win.”
Alonso has undoubtedly been one of the most vital assets to the Mets this year, and is shaping up to have not only a special season, but a special career as a hitter, a teammate, and a leader.
