The recent success of the New York Mets has momentarily subdued trade rumors regarding their top assets, but it hasn’t altered the fact that their choice on Pete Alonso will impact the team going forward.
Alonso, a free agent this offseason, would not sign a long-term deal if former Mets general manager Steve Phillips had his way due to underlying aging indications that have crept into the 29-year-old’s game. He discussed it with MLB Network anchor Brian Kenny and Jon Heyman of The New York Post.
The problem with these first basemen, in my opinion, is that as they get older, they become big, slow guys who only play one position on the field and are bats to be productive. This was stated by Phillips, the Mets’ general manager from 1997 to 2003, on Monday. “Paul Goldschmidt has declined significantly hitting the fastball 95 (mph) and above. Alonso has gone down every year since his first year. He’s hitting.196 this year on pitches 95 and above….
That’s where guys go to age. I don’t disagree, but I’m worried about Alonso. I’m not in at 34, 35, or 36 years old.
The inability to hit fastballs and then gradually turning into a general lack of impact against even more average fastballs are the two signs of aging bat speed.
Anthony Rizzo, the first baseman for the New York Yankees, was also brought up in the conversation about first-baseman contracts because he is currently incapable of hitting any kind of fastball (or pitch), as evidenced by his.237 average and.359 slugging percentage against fastballs. (He landed a two-year, $40 million deal with a club option.)
Alonso’s 89th percentile bat speed, according to Statcast, has allowed him to hit.255 versus fastballs with a.516 slugging percentage (anticipated figures are significantly lower).With good reason, though, he has faced the 18th-highest number of fastballs (227) with velocities above 95 mph.
Against them, he has batted.196/.288/391 (.322 expected slugging). In contrast, Juan Soto of the Yankees has seen 215 of these pitches. His line is.400/.500/.800.
Heyman was impressed by Alonso’s number of home runs since making his debut in 2019 (207), but Kenny was not persuaded. He employed simpler statistics. Since his freshman year, he has not slugged more than.520, he claimed.
Alonso will be paid, Phillips acknowledged, albeit perhaps for too long. It remains to be seen if the industry has realized this and won’t jump to a large, long-term arrangement. David Stearns, the president of baseball operations for the Mets, is among them.
