Reese Kaplan -- 6 Amazing Debuts Before Alonso

With the scorching start by Pete Alonso it got me to thinking about other Mets’ players who hit the ground not only running, but sprinting.  Some went onto great things…others, not so much.

Dwight Gooden

Who can forget the magic of Gooden’s starts which, dare I say it, even eclipsed those of Tom Seaver?  At the time of Seaver’s career we didn’t have the internet communications that were just starting up in the Gooden days and the fact that this guy was throwing such dominant heat at such an early age when it was very much inconsistent with Mets policy of promotions for teenagers made his exploits that much larger than life.  His rookie season included a 17-9 record, a 2.60 ERA, a 1.073 WHIP and an All-Star appearance.  He fanned 11.4 per 9 IP.  What could he possibly do for an encore?

Well, he answered that with a vengeance.  In his second season he went an astounding 24-4 with a nearly Gibson-like 1.53 ERA, over 276 IP, a WHIP below 1.00 and a second straight All Star Game selection as well as a Cy Young Award.  These exploits happened at the ages of 19 and 20.  The Mets then rode the 21 year old Dwight Gooden all the way to the World Series championship in 1986.  Then, of course, his personal demons derailed his career but no one can deny the fast start champion of Mets’ lore. 

Tom Seaver

Now don’t think I was disparaging Tom Terrific.  He started off with some truly bad teams with back-to-back 16 win seasons and ERAs of just 2.76 and 2.20 respectively with consecutive All Star selections.  He waited until year three at age 24 to explode with a 25-7 record and 2.21 ERA that led the Mets to their first-ever World Series and earned him the first of three Cy Young Awards.  He certainly was off to a great start but not quite the stunning one that Doc Gooden achieved.

David Cone

After a 13-game audition as a starter (and 8 more as a reliever) after being acquired from Kansas City for catcher Ed Hearn, David Cone did not exactly set the world afire.  However, in his first full year as a starter for the Mets he turned in one of their best ever non-Gooden/non-Seaver seasons when he went 20-3 with a 2.22 ERA, 213 strikeouts and a 1.13 WHIP.  The Mets would surely make that trade again every day and twice on Sunday.

Mike Vail

Falling into the latter category, outfielder Mike Vail was called up to the Mets in August of 1975 and in his first major league at-bat delivered a pinch hit against the huge Houston Astro ace, J.R. Richard.  Four day later he started a game against the San Francisco Giants and went 2-5, following that up shortly with a 4-4 encore en route to a record tying 23 game hitting streak for a rookie.  He hit .364 during the streak and finished the season hitting .302 (though ended the season hitting .211 the rest of the way).  The Mets thought they had a cornerstone hitter for the future.  They even traded popular Rusty Staub away to make room for him in the future.  He then suffered an ankle injury playing basketball during the off-season and was never the same.  He had some success as a platoon player against left handed pitching later with the Cubs, but he finished his 10-year major league career with just 1604 ABs, about the equivalent of three full seasons.  While a .279 career average is certainly not bad, it still seems he didn’t fulfill that early potential that got the club so excited back in 1975.  

Darryl Strawberry

Perhaps the best power hitter the Mets had ever developed internally had been Darryl Strawberry.  His Rookie-of-the-Year campaign included 26 HRs and 74 RBIs over a 122 game audition that had him end the year with a .257 AVG.  He added 19 SBs as well.  The following season began a streak of 8 straight All-Star Game appearances before his substance abuse and other issues sidetracked his career. 

David Wright

As a mid-season rookie call-up, David Wright delivered quite well with a .293/14/40 slash line at the young age of 21.  He followed that up with his first full season at 22 that demonstrated a hint of what was to follow with a .302/27/102 campaign with 17 SBs as well.  Then began a long history of offensive success before injuries curtailed his career prematurely.   

As an organization much more renowned for developing pitchers than hitters, there were few offensive forces to get the fans excited the way Pete Alonso has done thus far in his early Mets career.  Here’s hoping he stays healthy, sober and makes up for the disappointments of the past.  Surely there were others I did not recall who started off with great fanfare only to cool considerably, but this half dozen seemed to stand out to me.