Buck Showalter praises Pete Alonso's consistency, competitiveness
The Mets' Pete Alonso is greeted in the dugout after his solo home run against the Yankees during the second inning of an MLB game at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Buck Showalter was waxing poetic about Pete Alonso — his drive, his competitiveness, his ability — Wednesday afternoon when he made a surprising admission.
“I didn’t realize how good he was, to be honest with you,” Showalter, whose professional duties were limited to broadcasting during Alonso’s major-league career until this year, said. “He’s a special performer.”
Alonso provided another reminder of his power prowess with a home run off Domingo German in the second inning of the Mets’ 3-2 win over the Yankees later Wednesday at Citi Field. Their first sweep of a Subway Series since 2014 came via Starling Marte’s walk-off single in the ninth.
This was not a particularly prodigious blast, but it counted just the same. German threw a curveball that didn’t curve enough, crossing the plate over the middle of the middle. Alonso didn’t get all of it, but he got enough of it, and it ricocheted off the guardrail — above the wall — in leftfield. His 26 homers are tied for third in the National League.
That long ball came with a footnote: With 132 career home runs, Alonso tied Michael Conforto for seventh on the Mets’ all-time list. Next up at 149 is Carlos Beltran, who was technically briefly Alonso’s manager during the 2019-20 offseason.
What has impressed Showalter this season has been Alonso’s consistency. He has started 97 of the Mets’ 98 games. His home OPS (.894) and road OPS (.895) are virtually identical. His offensive numbers have ebbed and flowed month to month, but even his worst stretch — a .744 OPS in April — was well above the major-league average.
“Look at everything Pete’s kinda quietly overcome — from the car accident in spring training, getting hit by pitches in the neck and the head and different stuff — it’s pretty remarkable the consistency that he’s had,” Showalter said. “It tells you how tough he is mentally. This guy is a competitive guy. He’ll stick his nose in there and compete constantly. He’s been a very consistent competitor. He never wavers from that.”
Alonso’s bop was fortunate for the Mets, who didn’t do much against German despite making him work enough that manager Aaron Boone turned to the bullpen early again, lifting the righthander after 4 2/3 innings (82 pitches). He allowed two runs, five hits and two walks. The other run came across on Francisco Lindor’s two-out single to right in the third. Matt Carpenter seemed not to try to throw home as catcher Tomas Nido came around from second.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
