Pete Alonso's Legacy Is Written Now

Anyone who’s kept up with my writing will find it no surprise that Pete Alonso has disappointed me quite a lot this season. Going into his contract year he’s played the weakest baseball of his career, and has been awful with RISP. Realistically speaking, Francisco Lindor likely won’t be back till the end of the Phillies series, potentially not until Atlanta. Somebody in this offense needs to step up, and whether you think it’s fair or not it falls on Alonso. Don’t get it mistaken, Brandon Nimmo has been terrible the entire second half and takes just as much if not more blame if the Mets cannot make the postseason, but Pete’s consistent struggles all year to come through with runners on while being their go-to cleanup hitter is unacceptable.

With a career OPS of 1.004 against Washington, and .804 against Philly, we know that Pete can beat down on the Mets division rivals. We need to see it now, I would like to see Pete get a nice hand at what could be his last homestand as a Met, but the reality is he will be remembered by many for how he comes up in the moment his team needs him most. September has also statistically been one of Pete’s best months throughout his career, holding a career .549 SLG% in September and a .882 OPS.

Pete’s problems however do not lie in the past, they’re ones that come from a season of frustration and struggle. Starting just by talking about this current month, his OPS is .712, his worst of the season, his SLG% this month is .372, his worst of the season. His 2 home runs this month come in the 8th inning of a 5-2 game, and a solo shot against position player Kody Clemens in a 10-0 game. He’s driven in 5 runs, 3 of which on the previously mentioned home runs, a ground ball single, and a sac fly. He has only one double this month leaving him with 3 XBH in September.

The rest of the season has not been pretty either, with Pete struggling with the smallest bit of pressure on him. When Pete bats with nobody out, his OPS is .932, it drops down to .760 with one out, and .672 with two outs. He is hitting .213 with RISP, with an OPS that just recently reached above .700 (.718). With men on in general Pete is hitting .202 with an OPS of .707. He has ONE hit all season with the bases loaded, and an OPS of .692 with 2 outs and RISP. In high leverage situations he’s hitting .208 with an OPS of .728, and 9 XBH. This season he has an OPS below .700 against the Washington Nationals, and has 4 HRs against the Nats and Phillies combined. Might I remind you one of his home runs against the Phillies was against Kody Clemens, a position player. The other 3 come against Taijuan Walker in the 1st inning of a scoreless game, Kyle Finnegan in a game they were already up 5-2, and Robert Garcia in the 10th inning of a game they were already leading 5-2.

It’s time for the best power hitter in Franchise history to help carry his team, whether he plans to be here or elsewhere next spring, his numbers over this next 2 weeks will be crucial for his contract. We’ve seen Pete’s bat carry this offense before, he must find a way to do it again, and there’s no time left for excuses.