Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Pete Alonso means business in 2023.

Great players have the innate ability to be able to drag their team through adversity. Alonso is doing that for the New York Mets right now. He may also be the most consistent and the most potent hitter in all of baseball.

Alonso entered Friday night’s game against the Giants tied for the major lead with nine homers with Patrick Wisdom of the Cubs. Alonso’s red hot bat ensured he became the first player to reach the 10 home runs plateau in 2023. He’s also tied for the most runs batted in on the year with 23 after a four RBI night on Friday. It helped lead the Mets to their seventh win in eight games, despite the bevy of injuries to a ravaged starting rotation.

“I want to be able to do what I can to help the team win every night,” Alonso said after the game. “I was very fortunate to come through, especially with the bases loaded and two outs, and I feel that really turned the game and put the game on ice. I was really proud of that at-bat. I’m just really happy that I could help the team win.”

While Alonso became the first player in Mets history to hit at least 40 homers in two different seasons – 53 in his rookie year in 2019 and 40 in 2022 – it is the way in which the masher is approaching his at-bats in 2023 that seems to be making all the difference. He has found a way to harness the power that has always been there and take it to the next level. Alonso’s Home Run Percentage has dramatically risen to 10.8% through 21 games, and he ranks in the 91st percentile for Max Exit Velocity, the 92nd percentile in Barrel %, the 96th percentile in xBA, and the 99th percentile in xSLG and xwOBA.

It is also worth noting that Alonso now has the same amount of home runs as the Cleveland Guardians do as a team combined, and more than the Washington Nationals have hit this year as a collective unit (9). That’s pretty damn impressive. Alonso has more home runs now than he did at this stage of his rookie year where he hit 53 homers. He’s currently on pace for 77 dingers and you get the sense that he’s standing on the precipice of a truly special year. If that indeed happens and the slugger creates more history in a Mets uniform, then it will all boil down to an offseason spent working on his craft and making the kind of slight tweaks that are paying dividends right now.

“I’ve put in a lot of work,” Alonso said. “I do a deep dive into my game every offseason and I work hard mentally, physically and try and do the best I can to prepare. All I want to do every single night is go out there and play my best. I’m extremely happy with how I’ve been able to capitalize and I’m very happy with myself. I want to continue to stay within myself and play my game.”

Alonso now has the most home runs any Met has ever hit before the end of April. He’s slugging at an insane rate and is destroying baseballs without a single sliver of mercy. The fact he has launched four long balls on this road trip is a major reason why the Mets have been able to withstand a boatload of adversity and improve to 7-1 on the West Coast trip with a +24 run differential.

He isn’t only impacting games with the long ball, however. Although that has been a major part of his success so far this season. No, Alonso is also putting the ball in play as seen by his two-run single against the Giants, and he currently owns an on-base percentage of .376. The righty also owns a career-high 11.8% Base on Balls Percentage, while he ranks in the 86th percentile among first basemen in Outs Above Average, highlighting his continued improvement in the field.

Overall, Alonso is spearheading the efforts of a team that is currently tied for second-most wins in the majors, and tied for the most in the National League, and he’s doing it in a slew of different ways. If he can keep this current pace up, then not only is it possible that Alonso will end up as the new home run king in Major League Baseball, but he will also play a major role in helping the Mets to potentially banish some postseason demons come October.

“We fell short in the postseason last year and I just wanted to do what I could to get better,” Alonso told the New York Post. “If I could get better and contribute a little bit more or kind of evolve as a player, I feel like that could help the team. For me, I took it upon myself to work hard in the offseason, whether that being mentally or physically and trying to hone in on the stuff I could get better at offensively or defensively.”