Alonso wants to be your average bear
PORT ST. LUCIE — Pete Alonso blasted 46 homers last season — his most since his historic rookie year — but there was also plenty of room for improvement from him in other areas.
Most notably, the Mets first baseman produced a career-low .318 onbase percentage, driven largely by his anemic .217 batting average. They are numbers of which Alonso is aware. But as he prepares for this season, Alonso isn’t vowing to improve the numbers as much as the processes that will give him a chance for better results. Last season, Alonso’s batting average for balls in play (BABIP) was just .205 — suggesting bad luck was a significant factor in his low batting average.
“There’s certain things that correlate to batting average,” Alonso said. “Minimizing chase is certainly No. 1. That will give me a chance to increase my batting average — swinging at stuff in the zone, and just consistently capitalizing on pitches in the zone. If I’m hitting balls hard consistently in the zone, that definitely correlates.
“If I am swinging at something in my zone and making a good swing decision, it’s hitting it hard forward. That doesn’t necessarily mean a result. In spring training I could hit a ball 115 mph, but if it’s a line drive right at somebody, what can I do? In spring I am just going to focus on hitting the ball hard if it’s in my zone and making adjustments from there.”
Alonso’s hard-hit ball rate of 40.1 percent last season was the lowest of his career. Also a career-low was his 61.9 percent of pitches in the strike zone at which he swung. But Alonso’s chase rate of 27.4 percent was the best of his career.
Eric Chavez, in his return to hitting coach — he shares the job with Jeremy Barnes — said if there’s any message he’s trying to deliver to Alonso this spring it’s to focus on being a complete hitter. Chavez saw the best of Alonso in that regard in 2022, when the first baseman produced a career-best .271 batting average to accompany his 40 homers. Alonso’s .352 on-base percentage that season was the second-best of his career.
Alonso’s best all-around season was 2019 when he established a MLB rookie record with 53 homers to go with a .260/.358/.583 slash line. Chavez arrived as Mets batting coach before the 2022 season and reminded Alonso that he’s more than just a traditional slugger.
“The first year we got here we talked about, ‘I don’t want you to be known as a home run hitter,’ and his at-bats were tougher,” said Chavez, who spent last season as the Mets bench coach. “His pitch selection was better, he used the whole field and all these things, and we want to hit the ball hard and we want home runs, but I want them to be complete hitters.”
In analyzing his at-bats from last season, Alonso said he was pleased with the damage he inflicted on fastballs, but off-speed pitches were a weakness. Alonso hit just
.119 last season against off-speed pitches, swinging and missing on 43.1 percent of them.
“My OPS on fastballs was great, which means I was putting good swings on fastballs in the zone,” Alonso said. “I didn’t like where I stood on off-speed pitches, so I am going to continue to try to capitalize on the ones in the zone and take the ones that aren’t.”
Chavez preaches situational hitting — which means understanding that one approach isn’t applicable to all situations.
“In Pete’s case it’s going to call a lot for not swinging at any pitches, because [opponents] don’t want Pete to beat them,” Chavez said. “Just kind of him understanding those situations and him being committed to being a good allaround hitter, not just a home run hitter.”
Chavez suggested that Alonso’s contract situation — an extension couldn’t be agreed upon last year and trade buzz followed — may have served as a distraction to the player. Alonso now appears almost certain to head to free agency after this season.
“He had a tough year with the contract status, and there was a lot being talked about and written about,” Chavez said. “He went through it. I am sure it was really tough for him. But he knows: Take care of what happens on the field. The rest will take care of itself.”