Sixty-three players were taken ahead of Pete Alonso in the 2016 MLB Draft. That cluster included 17 other college hitters, four other University of Florida Gators and two other New York Mets. By the time Alonso’s name was called late in the second round, commissioner Rob Manfred had long since ceded the stage. Instead, legendary Mets relief pitcher and former team captain John Franco announced the pick.
As the 64th overall selection, Alonso was no diamond in the rough. The stocky first baseman had a phenomenal end to his junior season in Gainesville, shooting himself up draft boards and eventually earning a signing bonus just shy of $1 million. Evaluators agreed that Alonso had some of the best raw power in the draft class but held doubts about whether he would hit enough to actualize that juice.
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Alonso had suffered a rash of bizarre injuries in college that limited looks for scouts. He had an underwhelming summer in the Cape Cod league after his sophomore year. There were also concerns about his defensive future, not to mention the horrendous track record of right-handed-hitting college first basemen.
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And so, Peter Alonso, as he was often called back then, entered professional baseball as a relative afterthought. The MLB Network broadcast compared him to CJ Cron. This was a hulking slugger with question marks, a middling athlete with a high offensive bar to clear.
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Consider it cleared.
Alonso, now a five-time All-Star, made Mets history on Tuesday.
In the bottom of the third inning, he lined a first-pitch heater from Braves hurler Spencer Strider over the wall in right. The blast was Alonso’s 253rd career home run, pushing him past Darryl Strawberry as the franchise’s all-time leader. He is the third active player to be the franchise leader in homers, joining Manny Machado in San Diego and Mike Trout in Anaheim.
As the ball crested beyond the fence, into the history books, a Citi Field crowd of nearly 40,000 began roaring Alonso’s name. After hugging throngs of teammates, the Polar Bear reemerged on the dugout’s top step and tipped his helmet to the Mets faithful. For good measure, he clobbered No. 254 three innings later.
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The celebratory evening and 13-5 victory over Atlanta provided a much-needed change of pace for the Mets, who own MLB’s worst record in August. Of course, that’s no fault of Alonso’s; the impending free agent is…