Pete Alonso confidently showing NY Mets fans he'll be our huckleberry batting third

The Polar Bear is off to a scorching hot start. After Friday's home opener win over the Toronto Blue Jays in which he hit another game-defining homer, Pete Alonso is slashing .292/.433/.750 in seven games, including three home runs and 10 RBI. Alonso's fast start has proven his two-year, $54 million contract signed in February to be a bargain for the New York Mets thus far, silencing fans skeptical of re-signing the 30-year-old slugger.

Although we're just seven games into the season, Alonso has shown that he is the man for the number three spot in the Mets' lineup this year.

Hitting behind the likes of Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto is a heavy weight to have on a hitter's shoulders, but Alonso has exceeded the expectations of his role early in the season. All three of his home runs have come with runners on base, and they have counted for nine of his 10 runs batted in.

One of the things that makes Alonso so perfect for the three-hole is how hard he's been hitting the ball. His power, combined with his 63.2 percent hard hit rate (per Baseball Savant), is the perfect formula for hitters, especially with runners on base looking to advance. That consistency might not last that long at such a high level, but knowing how hard Alonso can hit the ball and his ability to do it with runners on in early April sets an encouraging precedent for the rest of the season.

He is also seeing the ball much better this year, with a walk rate of 19.2 percent, a number that has never been higher than 10.4 percent in his career, and a strikeout rate of just 7.7 percent. One of Alonso's biggest problems throughout his time in the big leagues has been plate discipline, and if he can continue to curb that issue, his overall performance at the plate will undoubtedly stay strong.

This early in the season, it's hard to truly tell if Alonso will be able to step up his game from his version of a "down year" in 2024 (he still finished with a .788 OPS), but he is absolutely on the right track, and if he can keep hitting the ball with runners on base, he is a prime example of a successful three-hole hitter.