Putting New York Mets First Baseman Pete Alonso’s Power Into Perspective
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso hasn’t yet logged three 162-game seasons in the big leagues. Despite that, he’s continued to leave his mark on the game overall, and on the franchise in Flushing, constantly.
His record-breaking 53 home runs during an NL Rookie of the Year campaign in 2019 provided a solid foundation. However, a dominant performance like that doesn’t guarantee future success. This is the majors, after all. At some point, opposing pitchers will shift their approach to achieve more consistent success.
Alonso has gone through some growing pains in the early stages of his MLB career, but he’s proven to be one of the league’s premier power hitters. It’s not just because he’s won two straight Home Run Derby titles, either.
On the heels of a historic month of May, Alonso did something else impressive during the Mets’ series with the Los Angeles Dodgers last weekend. He hit his 122nd career home run, which currently has him tied for 10th all-time in franchise history with Kevin McReynolds.
He’s gotten to this point in just 428 games played, so it’s a good time to put what he’s done in proper perspective.
An Unreal Pace
Since his debut in 2019, Alonso’s 122 home runs easily lead baseball. His 303 RBI are second in MLB to Jose Abreu. But Alonso is the only slugger with both 100-plus homers and more than 300 RBI during this time. It gets more impressive when looking at his current stance in franchise history, though.
Outside of McReynolds, here are the sluggers with more homers than Alonso in Mets history:
1. Darryl Strawberry: 252
2. David Wright: 242
3. Mike Piazza: 220
4. Howard Johnson: 192
5. Dave Kingman: 154
6. Carlos Beltrán: 149
7. Michael Conforto: 132
8. Lucas Duda: 125
9. Todd Hundley: 124
How impressive is it that Pete is already included with these guys? Well, let’s put it this way: Alonso’s 428 games are easily the fewest on this list. The only other player with fewer than 750 games played is Kingman (664 games). Alonso’s 1,820 plate appearances are obviously also the lowest, with Kingman being the closest to him (2,573). Among the others in the top-10, six of them accumulated at least 3,000 plate appearances.
If the first baseman stays healthy and plays regularly through the rest of this season, it’s not unreasonable to think he’ll end up somewhere between 30 and 40 homers in 2022. If he only hit another 14, he’d be in sole possession of seventh place all-time. If he gets the high-end of that estimate and slugs another 24, Beltrán and Kingman would be within striking distance early in the 2023 season.
How quickly could he challenge the top three of Piazza, Wright, and Strawberry, though? If the Mets don’t sign him to an extension, Alonso has two arbitration years remaining after this season. If we use conservative estimates along the way (30 total homers each in 2022, 2023, and 2024), he’d be at 196 career homers, which would be fourth all-time.
If we increase that estimate to 35 total homers in each of his remaining team-controlled years, he’d be at 211 career homers. That’d still land him in fourth place, but he’d only be a handful of dingers behind Piazza.
How Else He’s Distinguishing Himself
One of the many things that can catch anyone’s eye about Alonso’s offensive performance is his yearly consistency in the home run department. Starting his career with 53 home runs is helpful, but he’s finished within the top-five in homers among National League hitters each year since 2019.
The Mets have had the pleasure of watching many players put forth powerful seasons. However, there’s a certain benchmark that hasn’t been reached consistently during the franchise’s existence.
There have been 35 different seasons with 30-plus homers in Mets history. That’s already an exclusive group, but let’s keep making it more exclusive. Among these occurrences, Alonso is already one of nine players to have registered multiple 30-homer campaigns for New York. If he gets to 30 this season, he’ll be just the fifth player to do it three times, joining Strawberry, Kingman, Johnson, and Piazza.
However, it’s been quite rare for a Mets slugger to post consecutive seasons of 30-plus homers. Six hitters have accomplished that feat so far: Beltrán, Strawberry, Kingman, Wright, Piazza, and Hundley. The only guy to do it more than two years in a row is Piazza. He did it in four consecutive years from 1999 through 2002.
So, when it comes to distinguishing himself within the top-10 list of Mets home run hitters all-time, the mission is clear.
Joining an Elite Club of Sluggers
There's a real possibility we see Alonso overtake Strawberry as the franchise’s all-time home run leader soon. And this could happen whether he signs with the Mets for the long haul or if he just gets insanely hot over his final arbitration years prior to free agency.
He currently holds the Mets’ rookie home run record and the single-season home run record. So, adding the all-time home run record to his mantle would be quite the trifecta of accomplishments. If we look at players who currently own a specific franchise’s single-season and all-time home run record simultaneously, the list isn’t long. Here’s who is on it:
- Luis Gonzalez, Arizona Diamondbacks
- Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs
- Jim Thome, Cleveland Guardians
- Todd Helton, Colorado Rockies (he owns a share of the single season record with Larry Walker)
- Jeff Bagwell, Houston Astros
- Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins
- Harmon Killebrew, Minnesota Twins
- Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle Mariners
That’d be one heckuva club to join at some point, and the Mets’ first baseman could do it within the next few years.
What Pete Alonso has done in just three years of MLB service time is remarkable. Who knows what’s next for him, but we can make a reasonable assumption that whatever it is, there will be lots of homers involved.
Read More:
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- Mets Dodge Serious Injury Disaster With Pete Alonso, Starling Marte
- Should New York Mets Sign Trevor Rosenthal?
Matt Musico is the creator of MLB Daily Dingers, which you can follow on Twitter and Instagram.
