Mets made mistake by calling up Dominic Smith over Peter Alonso
By Matt O'Leary
The New York Mets released Adrian Gonzalez and then proceeded to call up the wrong first baseman, Dominic Smith instead of Peter Alonso.
After another lousy three-strikeout performance, the Mets decided to part ways with veteran Adrian Gonzalez. It was the right move, Gonzalez was really struggling with the Mets after a decent start.
A-Gon was hitting .237 with six homers and an OPS of .672. That’s not nearly enough offensive production out of your first baseman.
The Mets decided to call up 22-year-old prospect Dominic Smith to replace Gonzalez. In a not so surprising turn of events, the Metropolitans made the wrong choice. They should’ve promoted Peter Alonso.
Let’s break down the numbers, we’ll start with Smith who got the promotion. In 56 games with AAA Las Vegas, Smith is hitting .260 with two home runs and a .713 OPS. Smith was never much of a power guy, but he’s playing in Vegas where the ball flies out of.
The batting average is mediocre and the OPS is below average so it’s hard to get too excited over Smith coming up here. He hit .330 in AAA last year and has hit .192 in 51 career games in the big leagues over the past two years.
Smith had every opportunity to win the job this Spring Training but underachieved and then got hurt. The former first-round pick from 2013 has struggled to take the next step in his development.
As for Peter Alonso, he’s been a great story this year. In AA he has a .310 batting average with 15 home runs and a 1.007 OPS. That’s the kind of offense you want to see from a corner infielder.
According to Howie Rose, the Mets radio announcer, they have no interest in calling up Peter Alonso at all this year.
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How could there possibly be no scenario in which Alonso gets a call-up? He’s already looking like a better prospect than Dom Smith, plus if he gets hurt what are the Mets going to do at that point. It’s been a head-scratching year in New York, and this is just another example of a decision that doesn’t make a lot of sense.