Players of the Week: Alonso Heats Up, Peterson Keeps Shining

Similar to last week, the Mets fought through their offensive struggles and found a way to get things done.

This week featured an eight-game homestand against division opponents, the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies. While the offensive struggles continued for this group, they pulled out an even 4-4 record for the week.

The Mets continued to show resiliency, coming from behind throughout the Phillies series, and battling to the very end. This week also brought the returns of both Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto from the injured list.

While it was certainly a welcomed return for both players, neither was the real star of the show in their first week back in action.

Left-hander David Peterson made one mistake, but put together another solid outing for the Mets in the 2-1 Game 2 loss on Friday night. Despite the lack of power production, Pete Alonso also put together a strong week at the plate.

For those reasons, both Peterson and Alonso are our Pitcher and Hitter of the Week this week.

Pitcher of the Week: David Peterson

Since his back-to-back brutal starts in Arizona and Baltimore, David Peterson has been an absolute man on a mission for the Mets.

The young left-hander put together back-to-back solid starts against the Cubs and Nationals, and he kept the momentum rolling in Game 2 of the doubleheader on Friday night against the Phillies at Citi Field.

Peterson cruised through the first five innings, putting together a scoreless effort. His lone mistake of the night came with two outs in the top of the sixth.

The left-hander missed his spot on an 0-2 fastball to Bryce Harper, and he crushed it into the Phillies bullpen in right-center to give them a 1-0 lead.

After issuing a walk to Andrew McCutchen, Peterson bounced back to strike out Alec Bohm and end his night.

Overall on the evening, he allowed just the one run on three hits while walking two and striking out five. Over his past three starts, Peterson has put together a line of 16.2 IP, 6 H, 6 BB, 2 R, 14 K, 1.11 ERA, 0.741 WHIP.

Friday night was Peterson’s third consecutive outing allowing fewer than two runs. The young southpaw has lowered his ERA to 4.95, and has a 1.32 WHIP, 77 ERA+, and 67 strikeouts over 63 innings pitched on the season.

He’ll look to continue his recent string of success when he takes the mound Wednesday night against the Braves.

Peterson’s Stats for the Week: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K

Hitter of the Week: Pete Alonso

It’s been a bit of an odd season for Mets first baseman Pete Alonso. Despite not producing in the power department, Alonso has very quietly been having a pretty strong third year in the big leagues.

Heading into Monday night’s game against the Nationals, Alonso was hitting .261 with a .345 OBP, but had just 11 homers, nine doubles, a .450 SLG, and .796 OPS through 222 at-bats on the season.

This past week was much of the same story for the young slugger. Alonso played in seven of the eight games during the homestand against Atlanta and Philly, but didn’t homer or score, and only drove in one run.

Despite the lack of counting stats, Alonso did enjoy himself some success.

Over 24 at-bats, he hit .375 while posting a .444 OBP and drew three walks. Alonso picked up a double early in the week, and then ended the week with a three hit game in Sunday afternoon’s loss to the Phillies.

He entered Monday night having hit safely in eight of his last ten games and hitting .353, but had just one homer and two RBI over that span. Alonso stayed hot against the Nats reaching base three times, including a long two-run home run to spark a late inning comeback attempt.

Hopefully Monday night is a sign of things to come for Big Pete, and he can start being that big bat the Mets need him to be in the middle of their lineup. He’ll look to keep the ball rolling on Tuesday night against right-hander Charlie Morton and the Braves.

Alonso’s Stats for the Week: 9-for-24 (.375), 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 1 SB, .444 OBP