NY Mets, most of MLB have overlooked Pete Alonso's increasingly rare skill

Many New York Mets fans were torn while Pete Alonso marketed his wares on the free-agent market last winter. The Polar Bear was obviously a fan favorite, but he was seeking a big payday, which set off some red flags. The common thought at the time was that power-hitting first basemen were a dime a dozen, and paying big money to one in his 30s was bound to end badly.

Alonso didn't seem to have the secondary skills to justify the five-year, $155 million contract that the Baltimore Orioles gave him. As soon as his power fell off, most thought he'd become an albatross that would drag down the club's books for years to come.

Of course, not many were on board with the Jorge Polanco experiment, either, but few saw the former Seattle Mariner becoming a complete and total black hole this quickly. While Polanco's various maladies have opened up opportunities for other players, most have disappointed.

Overall, New York's offense has been putrid for most of the season. Through August 25, the team owns a .699 OPS, which ranks 24th in the majors. The club's right-handed bats have been even worse than the lefties, with a .672 mark that ranks 28th. One of the big reasons for that is that those right-handed hitters have provided very little pop, posting a 24th-ranked .383 slugging percentage.

That deficiency isn't just because the team failed to adequately replace Alonso, who is slashing .276/.364/.512 with 31 dingers in Baltimore, but also because it underestimated just how scarce right-handed power has become in MLB.

What has happened, not just to the Mets but also on a league-wide scale, is that many teams fail to understand the current landscape as it relates to sluggers like Alonso. During his rookie season in 2019, the average slugging percentage for a right-handed hitter was .434, but today that mark has dropped to .396. It's made a player like Alonso go from seemingly replaceable to undervalued.

David Stearns' and the Mets' failure to recognize this Pete Alonso-related trend is concerning

One of the reasons that David Stearns was an appealing hire when the Mets stole him away from the Brewers was that his background in Milwaukee was supposedly going to help New York be on the cutting edge of where the game is going.

With the Brewers, Stearns constantly had to find undervalued players and anticipate what the next big thing would be. By being ahead of the curve, he was able to keep Milwaukee at the top of the standings despite a shoestring budget.

Backed by Steve Cohen's deep pockets in Queens, the Mets were supposed to become an unstoppable juggernaut that could outbid the field for anyone they wanted while also seeing multiple moves ahead and grabbing players before their value popped off.

The way the talent landscape has developed has made Alonso's "flipping formulas" comment all the more prophetic. Pete is still doing what he always has done, blasting homers while playing questionable defense and running the bases slower than molasses, but he's becoming more and more unique as a player as the game has changed around him.

To be fair, it's not just Stearns who missed the boat here. Any team could have stepped up to the plate with a long-term offer for Alonso while he languished in free agency during the 2024-2025 offseason, but no one did.

Now, we might see a feeding frenzy for players of Alonso's ilk. There's a dearth of right-handed slug in the league, and if you can capture one of these big boppers, you can give yourself a real advantage. That's something Stearns should chew on as he waits for his opportunity to right the wrongs with this Mets roster.

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