Mets first baseman Pete Alonso is preparing for his age-28 campaign in 2023. He’s been in the big leagues for just three full seasons (plus the pandemic-shortened schedule in 2020) but has already made a huge impact on the franchise.
Alonso is the type of homegrown power hitter we haven’t yet seen in Queens. He’s the only Mets hitter to accumulate multiple seasons of 40-plus home runs and 100-plus RBI. His 53 homers in 2019 are a franchise record. The same can be said about the 131 RBI he collected in 2022.
Alonso has already carved himself a nice place in franchise record books. If he stays healthy — and stays in New York long-term — his presence will only become more prominent.
What about after the 2023 season, though?
If we use FanGraphs’ Steamer projections, Alonso is pegged to hit .261/.347/.520 with 39 home runs, 110 RBI, and 92 runs scored. That’d lead to a 144 wRC+ and 4.2 fWAR. Using these numbers as guides, let’s see how far Alonso could ascend on certain franchise leaderboards.
Home Runs
Alonso has slugged 146 dingers since his MLB debut in 2019. Nobody in baseball has gone yard more often. That power display already has him among the Mets’ top-10 power hitters, too.
He’s currently seventh all-time, with Carlos Beltran (149) next on his hit list. If Alonso slugs 39 more dingers in 2023, that’ll put him at 185 for his career. He’d move into fifth place, which wouldn’t be far behind Mets Hall of Famer Howard Johnson (192).
Darryl Strawberry’s 252 homers as a Met are still the best in franchise history.
RBI
All those dingers also bring plenty of RBI as a middle-of-the-order threat for New York. Alonso has driven in 380 runs so far as a big leaguer. That’s already good enough for 17th all-time in Mets history.
David Wright is the franchise leader with 970, so Alonso has a way to go to get to the top. But with another 100-RBI campaign in 2023, he can pass quite a few hitters. If we use the 110-RBI projection, that’d bring Alonso’s career total to 490.
This number would help him pass Keith Hernandez (468) for 10th place in Mets history.
Runs Scored
When I hear Alonso’s name, the first thing that comes to mind is him hitting tanks. I know I’m not the only one who thinks that way. Similar to our conversation about RBI, all those tanks also mean he’s crossing the plate himself frequently.
The first baseman has two seasons of at least 95 runs scored (2019 and 2022). Overall, he’s scored 310 times since his debut, which ranks 27th in franchise history. Adding another 92 to his current total would put him at 402, enabling him to pass Michael Conforto (400) for 16th all-time.
Just for reference, Wright is also the Mets’ career leader in this category with 949 runs scored.
Wins Above Replacement
Would you be surprised to hear me say that Wright’s 51.2 fWAR is the most among Mets position players? You shouldn’t be. It’s also not close, as Strawberry is second all-time… with 35.5 fWAR.
Alonso’s 11.9 career fWAR ranks 26th all-time. If we add his Steamer projection of 4.2, he’d be at 16.1, which would be the 17th-highest mark in franchise history. He’d pass names like Gary Carter, Robin Ventura, Tommy Agee, and Daniel Murphy.
It hasn’t been too long, but Alonso has already made his mark with the Mets. This could just be the beginning, so long as New York signs him to an extension so he can stick around for the long haul.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
