3 New York Mets MVP candidates, and 1 player who should be benched
By Kevin Henry
New York Mets MVP candidate No. 1: Pete Alonso, 1B
All hail the power-hitting Polar Bear and the claw marks he keeps making on the Mets record books.
With his shot in San Francisco on Thursday night, Alonso now has nine home runs already this season. That matches the franchise single-season record for home runs in March and April that he shares with John Buck, Carlos Delgado, Dave Kingman, Neil Walker … and himself during his rookie season of 2019.
Pete Alonso retakes the home run lead with his 9th of the season! pic.twitter.com/IoJWtXR1W1
— MLB (@MLB) April 21, 2023
With his 155 career home runs, Alonso is now fifth all-time among Mets players when it comes to the long ball. It seems that the record of 252 set by Darryl Strawberry is certainly within reach of the 28-year-old slugger. He also needs just one more RBI to earn the 400th of his career and four more to pass Daniel Murphy for 12th all-time among Mets players in that category.
There’s plenty of history to embrace when it comes to Alonso, but what he is doing for this team in the present is important to consider as well. His OPS of 1.024 is the only one in quadruple-digits for the Mets at this point in the season, and he’s played in all 20 games for the Mets this season, something that should be noted for a team that has dealt with its fair share of injuries early on.
It’s been a blistering start for Alonso at the plate, and there is plenty of April left for him to not only keep helping the Mets, but also etch his name by itself in the franchise’s record book.