Alonso stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the third and fourth innings.
The first time he popped up a fastball from Manuel Rodriguez, the second out of an inning in which the Mets would only score one run (because DJ Stewart worked a bases-juiced walk).
The second time, Alonso grounded a Kevin Kelly sinker into the ground for an inning-ending double play.
“It’s just frustrating not being able to come through in those situations,” said Alonso, whose power (eight homers) has been present but the finer aspects of hitting missing.
In what is personally a critical season for the to-be free agent, Alonso is hitting just .207 with a .715 OPS. His 0-for-5 afternoon dropped him to 2-for-36 in his previous 10 games.
“He’s going through it right now,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the Mets suffered their second series sweep of the season. “[He is] in between. It’s one of those where he’s passive with pitches in the zone that he can do damage with and then chasing, trying to do probably too much right now.”
Alonso is not the only struggling bat in the lineup, and Jeff McNeil — who went 0-for-4 with a walk and three strikeouts to drop his OPS to .621 — will have to find his stroke, too.
But Alonso is probably the most critical bat in a lineup that has generally been quiet for the first month-plus of the season.
The 29-year-old preaches process over results and puts in as much work as anyone. He realizes, though, those are not messages that fans want to hear.
“I need to be better,” Alonso said. “All the work, stuff like that preparing for the game, no one really sees that. No one really cares about that.
“People care about performance. So it’s just frustrating not to be able to come through.”
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso “isn’t too likely to be traded,” according to the New York Post‘s Jon Heyman.
“That doesn’t mean the Mets won’t listen again, though,” Heyman added.
Alonso is slashing .218/.309/.445 through 31 games in his sixth season with the Mets.
The three-time All-Star is playing on a one-year, $20.5 million deal and is currently set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2025.
Heyman’s statement slightly walks back another report from him earlier this week, in which he said there was a “decent chance… not more than 50 percent” that Alonso would be traded.
Spotrac pegs the 29-year-old’s market value at an eight-year, $263 million contract, worth an average annual value of $32.9 million per year.
Alonso is a reliable home run hitter, with 40 homers in each of his past two seasons. He has eight already in 2024.
A long-term contract could raise some concerns as to his overall consistency at the plate, however, especially after he finished the 2023 season with a career-low .217 batting average. Through 31 games of the 2024 season, his strikeout rate as increased to 22.9 percent, his highest in three seasons, per Baseball Savant.
The question of what Alonso’s next contract will look like might not matter for the Mets until the offseason, however. For now, what matters is that they are winning.
The Mets currently sit above .500, if barely, with a 16-15 record. They are five games back of the NL East lead and remain well in contention for a ticket to the postseason.
If the Mets are still competing for a spot by the time the July 30 trade deadline rolls around, the club could decide to stick with Alonso even at risk of losing him for nothing. After missing the postseason despite a historically high payroll in 2023, this team seems likely to attempt a run if given any opportunity.
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