Mets slugger Pete Alonso takes everything, including DH assignment, in grand style
Pete Alonso #20 of the Mets rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam in the fifth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on April 9, 2022 in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty Images
WASHINGTON
Pete Alonso survived a hellacious SUV roll-over with barely a bruise minutes after leaving his home for spring training. On Opening Night, he took a 95-mph fastball to the cheek and was lucky to be spitting only blood rather than teeth afterward.
So being asked to DH in Saturday’s game in order for Dominic Smith to get the start at first base? No biggie. And Alonso gladly took the opportunity to deliver some damage of his own, smashing his first career grand slam in the fifth inning to help propel the Mets to a 5-0 win, their third straight over the Nationals.
Alonso appeared to really enjoy this one, too. After turning on a 91-mph fastball from fading Nationals starter Joan Adon, he flipped his bat like a spinning baton, then watched as the sky-high moonshot barely cleared the leftfield wall, landing maybe two rows deep for an estimated distance of 358 feet.
“It feels nice,” Alonso said. “I mean, grannies are sick, so yeah. It felt really good, especially in a big spot to help the team win. So it was really, really awesome.”
But Alonso wasn’t satisfied with just the bat flip, which he said sprung “organically.” After crossing the plate, there were the usual forearm bashes all around. Then he put both index fingers to his lips, later explaining that it was a double-shush gesture to the crowd and the Nationals.
It’s safe to say this was payback for Alonso, and he savored every moment.
“Pete’s a guy that he walks in here every day like it’s his first game in Little League,” Buck Showalter said. “You think he’s going to Williamsport or something. There’s nothing phony about it — it’s who he is. I think sometimes we lose sight of the guts it takes, whether you’ve been hit or not hit, to get into a major-league batter’s box. It takes a lot of commitment.”
Then Showalter added of the slam, “I think he had it coming.”
Alonso sees himself as a first baseman. He’s worked hard at the position. He’s frequently stated that one of his career goals is to win a Gold Glove there.
On Saturday night, however, when Showalter wanted Smith in the starting lineup, the manager chose to view Alonso as the designated hitter instead.
Alonso’s identity crisis is going to be an ongoing thing as long as Smith sticks around, given that the latter is the superior defensive option at first base. And Showalter wasn’t going to duck the smarter baseball decision in filling out Saturday night’s lineup card.
It was bound to come up sooner rather than later, so why not Game 3 of the season, with the Mets already off to a 2-0 start? But this isn’t as much a conflict as it is a convenience, because this first year of the universal DH is a great benefit to the Mets, giving Showalter the opportunity to start some very dangerous hitters who would otherwise be on the bench.
The only concern would be how Alonso responds to these DH stints. Most players prefer to be in the field, even from an offensive standpoint, to avoid the restlessness between plate appearances. With so much down time, it can be tough to fill those gaps productively if you haven’t developed a routine.
But that wasn’t something Showalter seemed all that worried about for Saturday’s game, and he made it clear where he believes Smith could be best deployed for his first start.
Showalter wasn’t prepared to make any sweeping declarations about his plans for the position. When I asked him how he would be handling first base on the occasions when Alonso and Smith both are in the lineup, he deflected the question.
“You mean in the future?” Showalter said before the game. “Let me get through tonight. We’re trying to make use of Smitty’s skills and he’s got some we want to take advantage of.”
This isn’t the first time Smith and Alonso have been faced with splitting reps at first base. Two years ago, the universal DH was introduced as part of Major League Baseball’s revamped rules for the pandemic-shortened 60-game season. Alonso spent 38 games at first and 17 at DH that year; Smith was 23 and five, respectively.
Before Saturday night, Alonso hadn’t fared that well in a relatively short sample size at DH, hitting .203 (16-for-79) with eight home runs and a .787 OPS. He had homered once every 10.75 plate appearances. As a first baseman, Alonso is a career .261 hitter with an .896 OPS, and he’s left the yard once every 15.28 plate appearances.
The two sides to Alonso are so unbalanced from a playing-time perspective that it’s difficult to draw any conclusions from the split performance, other than he really hasn’t been a DH very much. For Smith, the numbers are somewhat closer. He’s a .242 hitter (8-for-33) with four homers and a 1.025 OPS as a DH. As a first baseman, he’s batted .244 (98-for-402) with 18 home runs and a .730 OPS.
Whatever the case, Alonso was in the right spot Saturday night, and the Nationals paid the price.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
