Moose on the Loose: For Pete’s sake
NEW YORK (PIX11) — A huge storyline around the Mets this season is the future of Mets first baseman Pete Alonso.
It is a contract year, and he has a new agent in Scott Boras. He wants to get paid after this season and has made it perfectly clear that he wants to remain a met.
If that is the case, here is the message for Pete Alonso:
Wake up! Start hitting the baseball.
The Mets are in St. Louis to open a series against the Cardinals.
If you want to know Alonso’s splits, he is hitting .206 with a .295 on-base percentage, .420 slugging and .715 ops. In 131 at-bats this season, he has 12 extra-base hits on the year and is 1 for his last 26.
I know it is just May, and the Mets have played just 34 games, but Alonso has been brutal. It has nothing to do with protection. Alonso has shown that he does not need protection to hit, especially for power.
Alonso used to be a guy who hit in the .260 to .270 range with 35-plus home runs. Not anymore. He hit .217 a year ago; this year, he is barely over the Mendoza line.
Listen, I like Pete. He is a homegrown man who is clearly the face of the franchise. I would love to see him remain in Queens for the foreseeable future. But I am also realistic. If that is to be the case, then he needs to show that he is the elite power hitter he has been throughout his career.
He is 29. There is a new sheriff in town in Mets, President David Sterns.
He will remove emotions from his decision on Alonso’s future. He will grade him not on the player he was but on the player he will be long-term.
If the polar bear wants to get paid and he wants the Mets to win, Alonso needs to wake up and start hitting.
Maybe it’s the pressure of the contract year. The message, though, is clear: Pete, wake up.
Until next time, New York, I’m Marc Malusis.
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