Peter Alonso
Much of the offseason talk surrounding New York Mets prospect Peter Alonso was he was a slugger without a position given the well below average defense he had played at first base.
His bat certainly got the conversation started after hitting .289/.359/.524 with 27 doubles, 18 home runs and 63 RBI between the St. Lucie Mets and the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies in 2017, his first full season in the pros.
The talk of his bad defense wasn’t an exaggeration either, his range was limited, footwork was poor and just had trouble fielding ground balls in general. Thus the Mets sent the 2016 second round pick to the Instructional League last year which is not typical for a position player of his draft status and hitting ability.
He was sent there to work on his defense and he improved according to people I talked to. That was the first step in what was a great offseason for the 23-year-old.
I had the chance to see Peter Alonso in person a few weeks ago (also interviewed him which will be up early next week) and I was impressed with multiple changes that I saw. Not only was he in much better shape physically, but he also was more agile and looked even more powerful at the plate.
What I saw defensively from Alonso is a guy that still needs work with his footwork around the bag and scooping balls in the dirt. With that being said, his range certainly looked better, he did a better job getting in fielding position and his overall defense was certainly improved.
The improved defense was confirmed by two scouts that I talked to, with one saying “better than last year, and playable in the future.” That’s along way from a lot of conversations I had with various people about his defense last season.
Photo by Ed Delany
Now onto the offense in which Alonso is among the Eastern League leaders in almost every category. His .373 AVG is second, .479 OBP leads the league, .678 SLG% is second and his 1.157 OPS leads the league. His six doubles are tied for the lead league, his 12 runs are tied for fourth and his four home runs are tied for second.
Digging a little deeper into his offensive numbers to see a slugger that is walking 16.4% of the time (8th) and striking out only 17.8% of the time. He’s seventh in putting the ball in the air at 53.2% and his 29.8% ground ball rate is tied for eighth lowest in the Eastern League.
One of the only questions some had about Alonso’s offense coming into the 2018 season was his ability to hit right-handers though he’s done that well (small sample size alert) in 2018 with a 1.111 OPS against them.
The improvement defensively for Alonso, better playing shape and flat out mashing baseballs has not gone unnoticed by national talent gurus either. On Thursday, Keith Law said this. “Alonso would be a top 100 prospect now (given some graduations and new looks at him) and I think he’s an above-average regular at least.”
Alonso is starting to force a timeline on the Mets to whether they see him or Dominic Smith as the first baseman of the future.
