Tony Plate Mets Office Connects with Players

                                                     

When Major League Baseball shut down spring training and suspended the start of its season R. L’ Heureux Lewis-McCoy was around teaching classes with Mets staff members on how to communicate the best with the group of basically millennials that comprises the most important asset which is the playing talent.

Mets Assistant General Manager Allan Baird said they are engaged with the cell phone. The work that Lewis-McCoy is doing is they are making sure that they are having a strong connection between the coaches and players. It is a concept of the Mets way. It’s a philosophy throughout the whole organization.

 Chili Davis said “It’s just the generation which is different. How they communicate, how they learn. It’s all about them and getting them ready to get whatever message you’re trying to get across to them.” Teams must prioritize what data they share with their players and how they do so. I think that is important for the whole team to help stay focused if and when the season begins.

There was talk that David Wright, who was the Mets last captain thinks that Pete Alonso might be worthy of such consideration even though it would be difficult to bestow his old title on a second-year player. When he visited spring training he was impressed by the sense of camaraderie and saw Alonso as a player the others seemed to look up to. There have even been calls by some fans to give the label of captain to Alonso.

Wright is not ready to give him that label just yet, but he comprehends the thought process is building towards that. He feels that he and Alonso are alike in that he takes a great deal of pride in being drafted by the Mets, coming up through the system and making a huge impact on the major league level. Wright’s advice is to just be yourself, be natural and lead by example.

I felt that when Alonso drew national attention as a slugger and won the home run hitting contest last year during the All-Star break, he had established himself as the face of the Mets. After a season in which Alonso led them in the right direction during the second half of 2019 and also took the league by storm when he easily won the National League Rookie of the Year Award, I can see why Wright visualizes Alonso as a possible future captain.