Alonso taking simple approach to Derby
Pete Alonso has thought long and hard about it. He believes he’s devised a sound strategy for Monday’s Home Run Derby that should lead to victory.
“Hit more homers than everyone else ,” the Mets rookie first baseman joked about the competition at Progressive Field in Cleveland for which the winner receives $1 million.
Alonso, who homered in Sunday’s 8-3 loss to the Phillies, shouldn’t have to change much. He is second in al l of baseball in homers with 30, behind only Christian Yelich of the Brewers, and has received advice from past winners Todd Frazier and Robinson Ca no. He figures to be one of the main attractions in the eight-man field, with his raw power that has accounted for 20 of his homers traveling at least 400 feet.
The only Met to ever win the Home Run Derby was co-champion Darryl Strawberry in 1986. The last Met to compete was David Wright in 2013. Alonso’s pitcher will be his cousin, Derek Morgan, a former infielder at St. Bonaventure. Morgan threw him batting practice a few days this week at Citi Field. Seeded second, Alonso will face hometown favorite Carlos Santana of the Indians in the opening round.
“It ’s going to be awe - some,” said Alonso, who will join Jerry Koosman, Dwight Gooden and Tom Seaver, as the only Mets rookies to play in the All-Star game. “That’s just another really special moment to have. This year’s been full of them for me.”
Alonso heads off to Cleveland coming off a historic first half, as the rookie recordholder for most RBIs (68) before the All-Star break. He’s tied for second among rookies with Aaron Judge (2017) for most home runs (30) before the break behind Mark McGwire’s 33 set in 1987, and is just 11 homers shy of the Mets’ all-time record for a season of 41, shared by Todd Hundley and Carlos Beltran.
Alonso leads all rookies in home runs, RBIs, extra-base hits, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, total bases, runs, hits, multi-hit games, walks and doubles.
“When I got up here, I was just really thankful,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that just kind of rolled the dice to see what would happen and I’m really thankful for that. I just wanted to make the most out of every single opportunity.”
So far, Alonso has. His presence in Cleveland is all the proof that is needed.