Sixty-three players were taken ahead of Pete Alonso in the 2016 MLB Draft. That cluster included 17 other college hitters, four other University of Florida Gators and two other New York Mets. By the time Alonso’s name was called late in the second round, commissioner Rob Manfred had long since ceded the stage. Instead, legendary Mets relief pitcher and former team captain John Franco announced the pick.
As the 64th overall selection, Alonso was no diamond in the rough. The stocky first baseman had a phenomenal end to his junior season in Gainesville, shooting himself up draft boards and eventually earning a signing bonus just shy of $1 million. Evaluators agreed that Alonso had some of the best raw power in the draft class but held doubts about whether he would hit enough to actualize that juice.
Alonso had suffered a rash of bizarre injuries in college that limited looks for scouts. He had an underwhelming summer in the Cape Cod league after his sophomore year. There were also concerns about his defensive future, not to mention the horrendous track record of right-handed-hitting college first basemen.
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And so, Peter Alonso, as he was often called back then, entered professional baseball as a relative afterthought. The MLB Network broadcast compared him to CJ Cron. This was a hulking slugger with question marks, a middling athlete with a high offensive bar to clear.
Consider it cleared.
Alonso, now a five-time All-Star, made Mets history on Tuesday.
In the bottom of the third inning, he lined a first-pitch heater from Braves hurler Spencer Strider over the wall in right. The blast was Alonso’s 253rd career home run, pushing him past Darryl Strawberry as the franchise’s all-time leader. He is the third active player to be the franchise leader in homers, joining Manny Machado in San Diego and Mike Trout in Anaheim.
As the ball crested beyond the fence, into the history books, a Citi Field crowd of nearly 40,000 began roaring Alonso’s name. After hugging throngs of teammates, the Polar Bear reemerged on the dugout’s top step and tipped his helmet to the Mets faithful. For good measure, he clobbered No. 254 three innings later.
The celebratory evening and 13-5 victory over Atlanta provided a much-needed change of pace for the Mets, who own MLB’s worst record in August. Of course, that’s no fault of Alonso’s; the impending free agent is 14-for-44 with six home runs this month.
His record-setting blast on Tuesday was a moment eight years in the making, yet it was far from guaranteed. When Alonso hit free agency last winter, there was real doubt about whether he would return to Queens. With the Mets inking outfielder Juan Soto to a record-setting deal, a potential homecoming for the jolly slugger — then 26 homers shy of the franchise record — took a back seat.
As the winter inched along, negotiations between player and team grew contentious, eventually bleeding into the public eye. In the end, a market for a long-term contract never materialized, and Alonso rejoined the club on a two-year deal with an opt-out after this season.
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It was, effectively, a procrastination, a temporary measure, a kicking of the can down the road. Even so, that stopgap reunion enabled the joyous scenes on Tuesday evening and allowed Alonso to assume his rightful place as the Mets’ Home Run King.
Pete Alonso broke the Mets’ home run record and added one more for good measure on Tuesday. (Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports)
The club’s record total, now 254, is the third-lowest in MLB (behind Arizona and San Diego), a product of the Mets’ historic inability to develop and, more importantly, retain star sluggers. David Wright should have blown past Strawberry’s mark of 252, but a torrent of debilitating injuries left him stuck at 242. Other offensive difference-makers, such as Carlos Beltran, Howard Johnson and Mike Piazza, spent significant time in other organizations.
How much Alonso will be able to pad his lead atop the Mets’ record books is an open question. He’ll almost certainly retest free agency this winter, buoyed by a resounding bounce-back campaign. The Mets will be involved, but interest from other teams is sure to be higher than it was last offseason. It is far from a certainty that Alonso will be in orange and blue next year.
For now, though, this much is clear: Pete Alonso is the greatest home run hitter in Mets history. The 64th pick in the 2016 draft has blossomed into a truly feared in-box presence, a household name in the baseball world and quite simply one of the best sluggers of his generation.
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