I don't know what made me just think of the great Ralph Kiner, the man many of us never saw play but heard for many years, including his stint in Kiner's Korner after Mets games on WOR 9.
But I have idly compared him to Pete Alonso a few times as a hitter. Let's take a closer look:
As a 24 year old, Kiner had these stats:
51 HRs, 127 RBIs, .313/.417/.639 in 152 games.
As a 24 year olf in 2019, Pete had these stats:
53 HRs, 120 RBIs, .260/.358/.583 in 161 games.
Pretty comparable, especially when you consider that Kiner's contact rate against today's (much?) harder throwers likely would have dropped, and he likely would have correspondingly had a lower average.
Over the next six seasons, Kiner put up these power #'s:
1948: 40 HRs and 123 RBIs
1949: 54 HRs and 127 RBIs
1950: 47 HRs and 118 RBIs
1951: 42 HRs and 109 RBIs
1952: 37 HRs and 87 RBIs
1953: 35 HRs and 116 RBIs
The last two of those six seasons were indicative of a bit of a fade, perhaps due to the start of back issues.
Kiner, much to my surprise, hit a lot more home runs at home than on the road - I was aware of the cavernous Forbes Field dimensions, so I expected the opposite ratio, but was unaware of the following:
Per Wikipedia, many of Kiner's homers were hit into a shortened left-field and left-center-field porch at Forbes Field (originally built for (his tutor, the great Hank) Greenberg and known in the press as "Greenberg Gardens"); the porch was retained for Kiner and redubbed "Kiner's Korner".
Kiner, as most of you likely know, retired at age 32 with those worsening back problems.
His last 3 seasons, due to the back, he averaged just 126 games and 19 HRs per season. But before that, he incredibly led the entire majors in HRs for 6 straight seasons.
Anyway, back to his prime seasons:
After his terrific age 24 season in 1947, in his next six seasons, he averaged 43 HRs and 113 RBIs.
Question:
After Pete Alonso's breathtaking 2019 season, would you expect him to exceed Kiner's average of 43 HRs and 113 RBIs or fall short of it?
Me? I'm taking the over.
I want Pete to average 48 HRs and 120 RBIs over the next 6 years, if he can stay healthy. Or better.
After all, Kiner is not the only standard - at age 25, Babe Ruth had his first truly Ruthian HR season, with 54 HRs and 135 RBIs.
Thereafter, excluding two injury shortened seasons, the Babe had 3 seasons with 50+ HRs and 7 more with 40+, and averaged an incredible 149 RBIs in those 10 seasons.
Something for Pete to shoot for? Why not?
Because he and the Babe are not "Polar" opposites, as I see it.
How do you see it, as a fan?
P.S. Beating an old drum, beware baseball guys after age 30.
Ralph is yet another example.
In 8 seasons from age 23 thru 30?
329 HRs, 888 RBIs.
Ralph Kiner after age 30?
Just 40 HRs, 127 RBIs.
Lastly, after his rookie year, when he fanned 109 times in 144 games, Ralph's "worst" K season was 88 in 158 games.
Now in THAT area, Pete has a lot of catching up to do.
6 comments:
Pete needs to be careful he doesn't fall into the "swing for the fences" mentality on every pitch. He also needs to continue working on the defensive aspect of the game.
Reese, i am starting to think that was the primary reason he hit .218 at home last year - swinging for the fences to please the fans.
An astonishing 27 of his 62 Citifield hits (44%) in 2019 were HRs.
If he tries to just hit it hard in Citi and not worry about HRs, they will come and maybe he'll hit 60 points higher at home.
Pete can have a great career if he works on reducing strikeouts and makes more contact with men on base. Think he was 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts with the bases loaded and no one out. I think the homers will come if he stays healthy.
The league will adjust to what they saw here last season.
Ask me this question again in a year.
Mack, I have marked it in my calendar to ask you in a year :)
John, Pete's K rate was actually a lot lower than the player many compared him to during 2019, Aaron Judge. Pete's 184 Ks were over nearly 700 plate appearances, a little more than a K every 4 appearances.
It isn't a good idea to compare a young player to a hall of famer after 1 season even after Pete's superb season, because it puts too much pressure on a player, there is a possibility he can be affected by the sophomore jinx which affected other players such as Mike Vail and he didn't make much of an impact after that hitting streak. When Rey Ordonez was in the minors the media said he was going to be the next Ozzie Smith even before he reached the major leagues which wasn't the case, because he ended up being only a marginal player.
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