New York Mets star first baseman Pete Alonso wants more out of himself despite being selected to represent the National League in the 2024 MLB All-Star game.
Per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, Alonso had this to say about how he feels he’s played through 95 games so far:
“I am really pleased with some parts, but I’m really excited for better things to come,” Alonso said. “I think progressively I made some adjustments along the way, and finding success as the season has gone along has been really nice.”
The Good for Mets All-Star Pete Alonso through 95 games
The parts Alonso is pleased with could be his 53 runs and his strong .772 OPS. The Mets’ lone 2024 All-Star is on pace for 90 runs, which would be the fourth time he has reached that marker in his career.
The Mets’ franchise player also sports an 11.7 percent barrel percentage that places him in the 81st percentile in the MLB. Alonso previously cited the metric as a good measure of a slugger’s performance at the plate at the time that the league introduced bat speed into its mix of advanced metrics.
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Where Alonso could improve after the All-Star break
The better things to come could be in reference to his 19 home runs on the campaign, for starters. Alonso set the bar so high after leading the entire MLB with 53 homers as a rookie that him being on pace for 32 bombs this year is under par for his expectations and the baseball world’s as a whole.
Moreover, Alonso has not been known as an efficient hitter on average. Nevertheless, he has upped his batting average from .217 to .240 year-over-year. Conversely, his slugging percentage has dipped from .504 last season to .454 this year.
The 29-year-old earned his All-Star bid. That doesn’t exempt him from having room to get better as the season draws on. His recognition of that could position him for end-of-season awards and success in the playoffs if his drive to clean up his weak spots translates to marked improvement. For now, though, Alonso will take the field tonight at 8 PM ET off of the strength of his body of work as is.
