As the winter months dragged on and the two sides sparred through the media, it looked at times like Pete Alonso and the only major league team he's ever known were headed for a messy split. Fans of the New York Mets were left in a position not unlike that of a child whose parents are separating. We love dad, but we love mom, too. As Blink-182 sang in Stay Together for the Kids, "If this is what he wants, and it's what she wants, then why's there so much pain?"
Alonso has been the quintessential Met since he burst onto the scene in 2019, not only for his propensity for setting off Citi Field's Home Run Apple by hitting bombs, but for the reciprocal way in which he embraced the team and the city. He's the one that added an "F" to LGM and delivered one of the biggest home runs in franchise history to beat the Brewers and All-Star closer Devin Williams in the ninth inning of a winner-take-all game last postseason, and his chef's kiss celebration as he rounded first will forever be etched into the hearts and minds of Mets fans everywhere.
Nobody in recent times has so clearly loved being a Met more than Alonso, and thankfully, the Polar Bear and the Amazins finally did reaffirm their commitment to each other with a two-year, $54 million contract, which was fittingly signed just a few days before Valentine's Day.
Alonso has a player option at the end of this year, and after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signed for half-a-billion dollars earlier in the week, there's a pretty good chance that he'll exercise it and try again for a long-term deal this winter. Ironically, Guerrero was the name bandied about as Alonso's possible replacement if he opted out, so perhaps his extension with the Blue Jays can result in everyone being happy. Alonso can stay in New York for more money, and Mets fans can keep their guy.
As with any couple that entertains the notion of breaking up but ultimately decides against it, there's no guarantee that Alonso and the Mets will work out in the end. Much of it will come down to whether Alonso can convince president of baseball operations David Stearns, who has typically been averse to aging power hitters in his time as a front office executive, that he's worth the long-term investment.
There's a long season ahead, but even Stearns has to be impressed with how Alonso has hit the ground running. He's hitting for power, which is no surprise for the two-time Home Run Derby champ, but he's also hitting for average, as he leads the Mets at .333. Actually, he leads the Mets in just about everything at the plate: hits, homers, RBIs, total bases, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. He's only struck out five times, fewer than any other starter that's played in at least 11 of the first 12 games, prized free agent signee and infamously selective batsman Juan Soto included.
Alonso has also picked up where he left off last playoffs by being incredibly clutch. His game-tying three-run homer against the Marlins last week snapped the Mets out of their first-week funk, igniting a six-game winning streak that only ended yesterday. The Mets are 8-4, and no single player is more responsible for that than Alonso.
Polar Bear Pete was already a prominent name on the Mets all-time leaderboard, but what he's doing this year could get him into even more rarefied air. If he ends up signing long-term, he'll set himself up to become the best position player in franchise history, and it probably won't be all that close.
In honor of Alonso's hot start, we're looking today at where he ranks among the all-time greatest Mets in a bunch of categories, as well as guessing how high he could climb by the end of the year.
If he stays healthy, Pete Alonso is a lock to become the Mets all-time home run king
To give some context to every stat you're about to see, Alonso currently ranks 19th in franchise history in games played, ahead of memorable Mets like Todd Hundley and Carlos Beltran but still trailing Keith Hernandez, Rusty Staub and Mike Piazza. He would need to play nearly 1,000 more games to catch Ed Kranepool's 1,853 for the most in Mets history.
When it comes to home runs, Alonso will soon be second to none. He's already first with 13.9 at-bats per homer, and he currently ranks third with 229 of them, trailing only David Wright's 242 and Darryl Strawberry's 252. Other than an injury-shortened sophomore season, Pete has hit at least 34 bombs every year, so he should stand alone before summer ends.
If Pete does stay healthy and does re-sign, he's going to obliterate everyone else who came before him. Strawberry battled personal demons and eventually left for the Dodgers, while Wright, incredible Met though he was, had his career cut short by injuries. Even Mike Piazza, whom Alonso passed for third on the home run list last year, didn't join the Mets until midway through his eighth season in the majors, so his time in blue and orange was limited, as well.
Pete Alonso has been plunked more than any other Met
Here's a painful stat for you: Alonso has been hit by a pitch 86 times as a Met, the most in history. His place at the top of the leaderboard is anything but secure though, as breathing down his neck are his teammates Brandon Nimmo (80) and Jeff McNeil (77).
No Mets fan that watched ex-manager Buck Showalter silently fume in the dugout for two years straight as his players got beaned again and again is surprised by the fact that the top three in HBP are all current players. Mark Canha was only with the Mets for less than two seasons while Showalter was in charge, and he alone got nailed 40 times.
This isn't a stat Alonso would like to be leading in, but with Juan Soto getting on base so often in front of him, it stands to reasons that he'll get more pitches out over the plate and less in his ribs.
Pete Alonso is currently sixth in all-time Mets RBIs, but is on track to climb to third well before the end of the season
Only Wright, Strawberry, Piazza, Howard Johnson and Kranepool are ahead of Alonso on the franchise RBI leaderboard, but he's close to passing three of them. As of today, he's 13 behind Kranepool, 28 behind HoJo, and 54 behind Piazza.
It would take another 132 to catch Strawberry for second, an unlikely, though not impossible, goal to reach for this year. Alonso's best RBI season came in 2022 when he drove in 131, and that also happens to be the single-season franchise record.
This year, he's on pace to obliterate that, as he's driven in 15 runs in 12 games. That's a 203-RBI pace that would not only allow him to blow past Strawberry, it would put him in range to catch Wright within the next two seasons. It would also wipe Hack Wilson out of the record books, as the former Cub has been the all-time single-season RBI king since 1930, with what everyone has always assumed is an uncatchable 191.
The Polar Bear is slowly but surely making his way up the franchise WAR leaderboard
We live in analytical times, and the preferred way for comparing players these days is not to use traditional counting stats, but to go by WAR (Wins Above Replacement), which encompasses everything a player does on the field on both offense and defense. I hesitate to use WAR as the be-all-end-all, especially for Alonso, as first basemen are not often treated kindly defensively unless they're historically great with the glove like Keith Hernandez. Still, WAR can give us a good sense of the value Alonso has brought to the team.
Alonso ranks 13th all-time against his fellow Mets in WAR, trailing most of the names mentioned earlier, as well as some other fan favorites like Edgardo Alfonzo, Jose Reyes and Mookie Wilson. Alonso's 20.6 WAR is also behind three of his teammates: Brandon Nimmo (23.1), Francisco Lindor (21.5) and Jeff McNeil (21.0).
When we isolate offensive WAR, Alonso moves up. He's tied with Lindor for ninth all-time there, jumping McNeil, Mookie, and Hernandez.
It's fun to dive into the statistics of baseball, but last year's Mets proved that there's more to the game than crunching the data. That team, perhaps more than any other in history, succeeded on vibes. Alonso was a huge part of that, even as he struggled through much of the year to replicate his previous production.
This year's team has gotten incredible pitching, especially from the bullpen, and the addition of Soto has already paid immediate dividends, perhaps none more so than to Alonso. There are 150 games left in the season, and Mets fans are going to want to buckle up and enjoy everything their team and their big lovable first baseman are able to do.