Tom Brennan - The Real Pete Alonso is Post-April Pete

Bunting’s not Pete Alonso’s forte, thankfully. 

We all saw it with our own two eyes (in my case, four).

In April, Pete Alonso and other Mets hitters like JD Davis were hitting long fly balls to the deepest part of Citi Field. Quite a few were not clearing the fences. That’s because of the cold air and lousy carry of airborne baseballs in April in Queens. 

Pete had just four home runs in April, and he certainly lost some to the frigid, unforgiving force field in the outfield against fence clearing long balls in Chile April.  I saw a few stopped, perhaps you saw more. 

Let’s look ahead to May and June. 

Pete in 50 games from May 1 through June 26 hit 18 home runs. Balls are hit, and fences are now cleared. 

April Pete stats of course count. 

But post-April Pete is a homer-hitting behemoth.

Of note, through the Mets’ first 71 games, only 48 homers were hit by Mets players other than Pete. Yet they led MLB in scoring, 2 ahead of the Yankees, who hit 48 more HRs, and who are + 14 in homers in their bandbox where the ball does carry.

Put Pete in that little bitty bandbox away from the Queens swamp, and he’d likely have 28 by now.

I hope you liked this little bitty short article. It was really DEEP.

Except to note this…

In 2019, the Mets set a team record with 242 homers (1.5 per game), yet missed the playoffs at 86-75, in part because they scored fewer runs per game than this relatively low homer (1 per game) 2022 team has.

MY METS MINORS MUSINGS

Boy can baseball be a game of extremes.  

To walk or not to walk, SS Billy Shakespeare once said, THAT is the question.

Just consider St Lucie:

Infielder Greg Guerrero is 7 for 34 with zero walks.

SS Kevin Villavicencio is a decent 20 for 85 - but with one single little bitty walk, giving him a .244 OBP. 

So, those two IFs have been up 120 times and share one walk.

C Fernando Villalobos is a hurting 3 for 21, but he's walked 11 times in 9 contests for a .438 OBP. He's from the Walking Villa, not the Swinging Villa.  Meanwhile...

C Jose Rivera is a so-so 19 for 84, but a not at all bitty 29 walks in 30 games for a .435 OBP.

So those two catchers are 22 for 105 ABs, normally not a good thing, but have walked 40 times in 39 games for a .436 OBP.  Even with 49 Ks in 39 games, a .436 OBP.  Oh my.

Coincidentally, Wilmer Reyes has a .244 Brooklyn OBP, equal to Villavicencia's .244 in St Lucie.  Wilmer has just 6 walks in 34 games.  A key difference between the two players is KV is 18 years old and WR is now 24, 6 years of age difference.  Where will each be, baseball-wise, in 6 years, I wonder?

Meanwhile, Cyclone C Matt O'Neill loves to walk, always has, and has just a .191 average, but a .342 OBP (3rd highest on the team) because of his 28 walks in 44 games, and he has 366 official ABs as a pro and a gaudy 96 walks.

OK, time for me to take a walk away from the PC.  

But walks do matter.  Just ask Brandon Nimmo.