Tag Archives: Pete Alonso

Pete Alonso Sets National League Rookie Record for Home Runs in a Season

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Pete Alonso is the rookie on top…

The 24-year-old part-Spanish American professional baseball player, a first baseman for the New York Mets, hit his 40th home run of the season on Sunday to set the National League rookie record for home runs in a season.

Alonso homered to left field in the ninth inning. The 418-foot blast off the Kansas City Royals‘ Jacob Barnes broke a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Cody Bellinger for most home runs by a NL rookie in a season.

Bellinger hit 39 home runs in 2017.

“It’s crazy,” Alonso said after the Mets’ 11-5 victory when asked about setting the record. “I just gotta go back to the days of spring training when I didn’t know if I was gonna make the team out of camp or not. I’m just extremely thankful for this opportunity, and this has been such an incredible year. I just wanna keep building and help this team win.”

Alonso quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count, but when Barnes threw a high fastball, he didn’t miss.

“I was just trying to hit the ball hard like I have been,” said Alonso, who is the first Mets player to hit 40 home runs in a season sinceCarlos Beltranhit 41 in 2006. “Take good, quality swings at good pitches and, thankfully, he gave me a fastball up in the zone, which I like to swing at.”

The result was a no-doubt shot over the bullpen in left field that snapped the tie with Bellinger, who hit the 39-home run mark on the way to winning Rookie of the Year honors in 2017.

“It was a pretty grand one,” New York manager Mickey Callawaysaid. “It went a long way, it seemed like.”

Bellinger took to Twitter after Sunday’s action to congratulate Alonso on breaking his record.

Next up for Alonso is the Mets’ season record of 41 home runs set by Todd Hundleyin 1996 and equaled by Beltran a decade later.

“That’s even more mind-boggling,” Alonso said. “I’m just really grateful. Grateful and thankful and happy that I’ve had this opportunity.”

With the home run, Alonso improved to 3-for-4 in the Mets’ victory over the Kansas City Royals, with three runs and two RBIs.

The victory pulled the Mets (64-60) into a three-way tie in the NL wild-card chase, 1½ games behind the Chicago Cubs, who hold the second wild-card spot.

The New York Yankees‘ Aaron Judge holds the major league record for home runs in a season by a rookie, with 52 in 2017.

Pete Alonso Ties National League Rookie Home Run Record

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Pete Alonso is having a banner rookie season…

With 42 games left to play, the 24-year-old part-Spanish American professional baseball player’s season already ranks among the more productive campaigns in New York Mets history. 

Pete Alonso

Alonso has owned the franchise’s rookie home run record for weeks; Thursday, in a 10-8 win over the Atlanta Braves, he hit his 39th to match Cody Bellinger for the most by a rookie in National League history.

Passing Bellinger seems a foregone conclusion, as does the Mets’ overall franchise record for homers: 41, which Todd Hundley and Carlos Beltran share.

Beyond that, two significant standards loom: the Major League rookie home run record, which Aaron Judgeset with 52 in 2017, and the Mets’ overall RBI record, which Mike Piazzaand David Wrightshare with 124. Alonso is just ahead of the pace needed to set the former, and a hair behind the rate required for the latter.

“There are a lot of records out there,” Mets manager Mickey Callawaysaid. “I know he’s not too worried about that. He just wants to put together good at-bats and play good defense. But he’s stockpiling them.”

Many of Alonso’s home runs have resembled the one he hit Thursday: a 110.6-mph, 451-foot shot to straightaway center field, according to Statcastdata, one of nine he has hit at least 440 feet this season. (No Major Leaguer has more.) Alonso also singled home two runs in the fifth inning and another in the seventh, finishing with a career-high five hits and six RBIs. He and shortstop Amed Rosariobecame the first pair of Mets to collect five hits in the same game in franchise history, while Rosario became just the sixth to have four-plus hits in multiple games.

“I’m really happy,” Rosario said through an interpreter, “but I’m also really happy for him because he was able to tie the rookie record for home runs.”

Over the past three weeks, Alonso has gone deep even more frequently than he did before the break.

“I want to be the best version of myself every single day,” Alonso said. “Baseball’s a game of failure, and that’s really difficult to do and maintain throughout 162 games. I felt like the second half, it really hasn’t been what I’ve wanted after having the first half I had. … I was kind of just frustrated after a while because I know that I’m better.”

Games like Thursday provide the proof. Record books already hold the evidence. Time will tell how many all-time marks Alonso will ultimately set, though he’s about to have one more all to himself.

“I don’t stand alone,” Alonso said of the NL rookie record. “I’m tied. Hopefully, I keep on going and keep pushing forward. Hopefully, I can stand alone in that category.”

Pete Alonso Defeats Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in a Battle of Rookies to Win Home Run Derby

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Pete Alonsois officially a home run champion…

The 24-year-old part-Spanish American professional baseball player, a first baseman for the New York Mets, outslugged the Toronto Blue Jays‘ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in a battle of rookies to win the Home Run Derby at Cleveland’s Progressive Field on Monday night.

Pete Alonso

Guerrero had broken the Derby’s single-round record in each of the first two rounds, but after surviving an exhausting duel with Joc Pederson of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the semifinal round, Guerrero didn’t have enough to beat Alonso in the final.

The Blue Jays rookie, trying to follow in the footsteps of his Hall of Famefather, who won the event in San Francisco in 2007, went first in the final, and after initially struggling to duplicate his earlier pace, he picked it up after calling a second timeout and finished with 22 home runs.

Alonso, unique in the competition in sending most of his hits toward center field, then followed with 23 to spare to end it with plenty of time. 

He became the first Met to win the event since Darryl Strawberrywas a co-champion in 1986.

“That was a blast. Oh my god, that was a blast,” Alonso said after his win. “I’m gonna remember that for the rest of my life.”

With the win came a cool $1 million bonus to supplement Alonso’s base salary of $555,000. 

He said he would donate 10% of his winnings between two charities, the Wounded Warriors Projectand the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

“I have the utmost respect for the people that put their lives on the line every single day — and I just wanna show my gratitude, because a bad day for me is a lot different than a bad day for the servicemen and women that serve this country,” Alonso said.

Guerrero has eight major league home runs in his rookie year, and he hit 44 total homers in the minors. But at the Derby, he hit 91.

The biggest drama of the night came in the semifinal round, when he needed three tiebreakers to eliminate Pederson 40-39.

Before this year’s Derby, only six players had hit 40 home runs in an entire event, much less a single round.

“I feel bad for him,” an exhausted Pederson said after his final swing. “He’s gotta keep hitting; I’m toast.”

Pederson, who lost in the final as a rookie in 2015, now has the most combined home runs at the Derby all time, with 99, while Guerrero — in his first appearance — tied the previous record of 91 held by Todd Frazier, who also competed twice.Guerrero did have the honor of hitting the longest homer of the night, 488 feet, in the second round. That netted him a $100,000 bonus to go with his $500,000 for finishing second, which more than equals his season’s salary of $468

Pete Alonso Sets National League Rookie Record with 68 RBIs Before the All-Star Break

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Pete Alonso may be a rookie, but he’s already makin’ a name for himself in Major League Baseball…

The 24-year-old part-Spanish American professional baseball player and New York Mets first baseman, ready to play in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Cleveland, has set the National League rookie record with 68 RBIs before the break.

Pete Alonso

He hit his 30th home run of the season Sunday in an 8-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, driving in two runs with the shot, to set the mark.

He was tied with Albert Pujols, who had 66 for the St. Louis Cardinalsin 2001. Walt Droposet the major league mark of 83 for the Boston Red Soxin 1950.

His 30 home runs are tied for the second most by a rookie in major league history before the All-Star break. The New York Yankees‘ Aaron Judge also hit 30 in 2017. Mark McGwireholds the major league record, with 33 for the Oakland Athletics in 1987 before the break.