First baseman of the New York Mets over his first season as a major leaguer Pete Alonso Many things have been labeled:
Initially, a player who wasn’t ready for prime time and was considered to have a defensive responsibility that wasn’t worth making his MLB debut or wasn’t ready, but now a 25-year-old Florida man It didn’t take long to be dubbed Exit Speed Genius, National League All-Star, Home Run Champion, and finally the 2019NL Rookie of the Year.
The sky was the limit, but there was a cloud cover, also known as the dreaded second year slump.
It may be worse. The truncated 60-game season can turn out to be a great way to limit the setbacks experienced by almost every ball player once the league has a book.
As evidenced by his .260 / .358 / .583, 143 wRC + rookie campaign, there is no doubt that a strong foundation has been laid and the potential for shining is there. After scrutiny brought by his dull .231 / .326 / .490, 119 wRC + second season, there seems to be more work to be done.
But when will the 60’6 inch cat-and-mouse game end in this league?
The infinite adjustments on both sides of the chalk are literally the name of the game. It is always done. Making progress is one step ahead. It applies to any course of life.
The unprecedented challenges posed by the 2020 season and the resulting contradictions from Alonso can work very well, but speculation can only be obtained so far.
Weird off-season — a pandemic with two managers, everyone chasing — followed by a socially distant, staggered workout summer camp for everyone for the season. May have been separated a little.
Even the 4-4 night with Boston on July 29 couldn’t prevent Pete from hitting .200 / .351 / .300 until the end of the first month (one home run in 37 at-bats). ..
A 1:10 start until August — and some outer halves of the braking pitch blew up. Back in the book — Alonso was visibly moody. But since he was called in to start the 2019 season, his tactics have been, but his slugging right-handedness has continued to work and is heading towards a resurgence.
With more than 65 at-bats from August 3rd to August 19th, Alonso hit .302 / .431 / .585 with 4 and 3 home runs. It’s more similar.
Unfortunately, that scorching stretch was badly stopped by the Mets’ four-day COVID-related pause on August 20th.
The spark cannot be rediscovered — Alonso and Metsy win three consecutive games, 2.5 games behind the NL East — Pete won 29-3 for the rest of the month.
Hopes for the Mets playoffs have been frustrated, but they are still very alive as the calendar changed in September. Once again, Tremendous Meat Pete arrived on time. In the final month of the season (.256 / .316 / .640, 95 PA), 10 home runs almost powered New York to the NL Wildcard Bath, but unfortunately it wasn’t a dice.
According to Baseball Savant, Alonso has taken a big step in the face of the fastball. Crushed to a pitch of .294 with a slugging percentage of .669 in 2019, the SLG (.513) fell 156 points compared to these products, reaching just .243. ..
That’s alarming, but there may be an explanation for it. Alonso has shown that he may break the pitch in 2019 (.203 BA, .418 SLG). Not surprisingly, pitchers exploited the vulnerability in 2020 and the results remained true (.191 BA, .397 SLG).
From time to time, Alonso looked lost on the plate, as we all noticed this season. Now, when you are given a stable diet of breaking balls and are forced to hunt heaters, what you need from a mound perspective is a basic game plan that confuses the batter. Checkmate until the batter changes his approach.
Alonso’s constant adjustments in Port St. Lucie this winter and February are crucial to his success. Then the season begins, and in April, the litmus test begins on the next label to decorate Alonso.
Elite flagship or pot flash.
Alonso must be preparing to regain the shape of his extra-world rookie campaign after achieving subpar by all standards and not being completely satisfied with the 2020 season. Let’s see if those efforts will bear fruit.
Let’s hope they do so for the Mets.
