Why are the Mets so reluctant to call up Peter Alonso?

Peter Alonso has been on a tare in the minor leagues for the New York Mets, yet for some reason, they refuse to give him a chance at the MLB level.

If you watch the Mets regularly or are even a Mets fan like myself, you’ve probably noticed their black hole at first base. After trading away Lucas Duda last year, they haven’t had a true replacement for him.

They attempted to catch lightning in a bottle this year with Adrian Gonzalez. At 36, A-Gon was a shell of his former self and lasted just 54 games before being released. They even tried gift wrapping the job for former first-round pick from 2013, Dom Smith.

Smith was flat out atrocious and is trending towards bust status. In 28 games, the 23-year-old was hitting .183 with one home run, one rbi (from the home run) and an OPS of .540. That clearly is not MLB first baseman material.

Now, Wilmer Flores has served as the everyday first baseman. He’s not a first baseman. Tha’s not meant as a dig at Flores who is a very good bench player and will forever be endured due to the 2015 trade that wasn’t, he is just literally playing out of position. It’s not the first time the Mets have done that to him but that’s a story for another day.

Now, the Mets are potentially considering either having Jay Bruce or Yoenis Cespedes play first base when they come back healthy. For some reason, the Mets are unwilling to try the most obvious fix, call up Peter Alonso.

If you’re not a Mets fan this isn’t a household name. You might remember him from the Future’s Game when he hit this mammoth home run:

The home run was like nothing we’ve seen before. No seriosuly, it broke statcast

Alonso, a second-round pick from 2016 has been dominating in the Minors. He was the first player, MLB or MiLB, to reach 100 rbi this year.

He began the year at AA Binghamton where in 65 games he slashed .314/.440/.573 with 15 home runs, 52 rbi, and a 1.012 OPS. After dominating in AA he got the call up to Las Vegas. He struggled with the batting average at first but even that has improved.

Now, he’s hitting .251 with 15 home runs, 53 rbi, and a .908 OPS. If you combine his numbers at AA and AAA his slash line looks like this in 114 games, .281/.403/.563 with 29 home runs, 105 rbi, and an OPS of .965.

What else do you need to see? Apparently, the Mets are claiming that he’s not ready defensively. Well, how do you explain him winning a defensive award then?

The circus that is the 2018 Mets is continuing with the lack of self-awareness when it comes to Alonso. If the argument for delaying his MLB debut is to hold off on starting his MLB service clock than MLB needs to step in and throw Fred and Jeff Wilpon out the door head first.

When you’re 17 games under .500 in fourth place now is the exact time you want to see what you have going into 2019. There’s no way to know if he can handle the Major’s unless you have him play at the MLB level.

With the team so far out of things, having Alonso in the lineup would bring people to the ballpark to at least see what the Mets have with the kid. I’ll tell you one thing, Jay Bruce isn’t putting butts in the seats with his three home runs this year.

The ineptitude of this franchise is reaching new heights every day. It’s truly something.