PETE ALONSO TIES DARRYL STRAWBERRY'S
METS ROOKIE HOME RUN RECORD IN RECORD TIME
It's safe to say among position players no Mets rookie has ever burst on the scene quite like Pete Alonso. The man dubbed the Polar Bear hit his 26th home run of the season off Cubs starter Jose Quintana in the first inning of Saturday's game at Wrigley Field. Reaching down low for an off-speed pitch he deposits Quintana's offering into the right/center field bleachers thus tying Darryl Strawberry's rookie home run record set during the 1983 season.
Drafted out of high school, Strawberry makes his major league debut at 21-years of age on May 6 against the Reds at Shea Stadium. He plays 122 games slashing .257/.336/.512, with 26 home runs and 74 RBI through 420 official at-bats earning him Rookie of the Year honors.
A college product, Alonso makes his MLB debut at 24-years old and is with the club since opening day. He's presently slashing .274/.362/.632, with 26 home runs and 60 RBI through 76 games and 277 at-bats, essentially bum rushing the Mets rookie home run record in 46 less games and 145 less at-bats than Strawberry. Darryl also had 48 extra base hits in all of 1983, while Alonso so far has already amassed 45 extra base hits.
A personal metric of mine is to subtract home runs from runs batted in. Strawberry hit 12 solo home runs, and 14 home runs with 62 RBI (net 48 RBI) with runners on base. Alonso has 14 home runs with the bases empty, and 12 home runs with 46 RBI (net 34 RBI) with runners on. However, he more recently has been wreaking a bit more havoc with runners on base. And for anyone interested, both Alonso and Strawberry strike out at relatively the same rate of 30.3% during official at-bats.
Lastly, Alonso surpasses the Dodgers Cody Bellinger's previous record for most home runs (25) prior to the all-star break. Pete has played in all but one of the Mets 77 games to date. With 85 games left in their regular season, Alonso is uniquely positioned to completely rewrite several more Mets records rookie or otherwise ... if an increasingly desperate upper management doesn't run him into the ground first.
Since his selection in the second round of the the 2016 draft and throughout his professional career Alonso has maintained remarkable consistency. His trajectory speaks for itself.
- (A-) .321/.382/.587, five home runs, 21 RBI; 30 games and 109 official at-bats.
- (A+) and (AA) .289/.359/.524, 18 home runs, 63 RBI; 93 games and 353 official at-bats.
- (AA) and (AAA) .285/.395/.579, 36 home runs, 119 RBI; 132 games and 478 official at-bats.
Todd Hundley and Carlos Beltran hold the Mets season record with 41 home runs.
Beware the Polar Bear.
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