One of the major reasons why MMN ranked Peter Alonso as the third best prospect in the Mets farm system is because he simply mashes at the plate.
In his brief professional career, he has slugged to the tune of a .297/.364/.539 batting line with 23 homers in just 123 games played. If you have had the benefit of seeing him hit, it just seems like he goes out there and tries to destroy the baseball.
That’s a sentiment one of his collegiate coaches share. Speaking about Alonso’s approach at the plate, Florida assistant coach Braz Weitzel told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, “He just tried to disintegrate balls. That’s all he tried to do. But there was no real contact skills, working on going the other way, becoming a hitter. For me, you’ve got to learn how to hit before power means anything.”
As DiComo would note in his article regarding Alonso’s power, his approach was well crafted before he even reached college. In fact, Alonso has been working with a private swing coach since he was eight-years-old. The end result of his working hard at his craft since he has been eight is he demolishes the baseball. It is not only something you see, it is something that is supported by Statcast.
Last season, Alonso had a 93.5 mph average exit velocity, which was the higher than anyone on the Mets Major League roster. The only three major leaguers with a higher exit velocity in 2017 were Aaron Judge, Joey Gallo and Nelson Cruz. Alonso edged out Miguel Sano (93.4 mph) Giancarlo Stanton (92.6 mph). This is all the more remarkable when you consider Alonso dealt with a broken hand early in the season.
Even with Alonso showing a skill better than the reigning National League MVP, he knows there are still areas of his hitting which needs improvement. Each step of the way, he was worked on increasing his walks and decreasing his strikeouts.
In college, the efforts bore fruit with him increasing his walk rate to 12%. As a professional, he has not gotten to that point yet with him walking in just 6.9% of his plate appearances last season.
Seeing how he has previously made significant strides in this area, we should expect him to make similar improvement this year in Binghamton. Certainly, Weitzel agrees saying, “He wants to get better. He wants to be an item. Every day he goes to the field, sweat is just pouring off him.”
With this type of dedication, we can very well see Alonso make significant strides in increasing his walk rate and decreasing his strike out rate this season. If so, he will become an even better hitter and prospect than we already believe him to be. More than that, we may well see him begin to make a case to be in the Majors in the near future.
I’m team Dom 4eva BUT the sound of ball off Alonso bat has made me smile for a couple years now.
“Last season, Alonso had a 93.5 mph average exit velocity, which was the higher than anyone on the Mets Major League roster.”…… I don’t mean to be rude, but this statement has no point or value. You can’t compare exit velo’s of a single-A player to major leaguers because they’re facing a different caliber of pitching. Comparing apples to apples, Alonso looked a lot less finished and farther from the majors this spring than Dom Smith did two springs ago before his AA season. Because Alonso’s power is more prolific, he may go farther than Smith at some point. But right now, he still has a way to go, regardless of what some pundits and talking heads say.
It’s actually much better to compare exit velocity because it’s a direct representation of a skill (literally it’s how hard you hit the ball,) than something that is determined by qualities outside of one’s control like the more traditional stats.
Bro a hard hit ball is a hard hit ball.
We now live in an analytical day and age and others have posted these stats compared to others throughout Mets minors system and majors as an interesting point of reference.
Bro, Eric Campbell became one of Sandy’s favorites because of his exit velocity. Analytics are tools, like a hammer or a saw. Using them and using them well or correctly are two different things.
i never said anything about traditional stats, or any stats for that matter. As for your other comments, you’re only half right. Certainly, hitting the ball hard at single-A is better than not hitting it hard at that level. But some guys will the ball hard anywhere. Some guys will not no matter where they play. And some will hit it hard at the lower levels and drop off as they advance. The simple fact is that hitting single-A pitching is not the same as hitting major league pitching.
Hitting the ball hard is partly about strength and bat speed. But only partly. Its also about squaring up the ball. And thats harder to do against better pitching that breaks more sharply and is located better more of the time. Alonso hasn’t hit the ball hard at all this spring. In advanced-A, 3 out of 4 players he faces are never going to make the majors. He can beat up on the also-rans and non-prospects and struggle against the good pitchers, and still post a great exit velo stat. I’m not saying that is the case. I didn’t watch him play. But I’m saying that ANY minor league stat – traditional, or modern – is diluted and has to be taken with a grain of salt. especially from a level this far away from the majors.
Soup was known to be decent at barreling up on the ball when he could actually make contact.
Alonso is known to destroy balls over walls. There’s a difference.
the key phrase… “when he can make contact”.. aplies to the both of them. I’m not talking about their power. I’m talking about the difference between single-A pitching and major league pitching.
Alonso certainly has more prodigious power than a lot of players. But he can’t hit it over the fence if he doesn’t make good contact. And thats harder to do against better pitching. (see my other post below). The fact is Alonso did not make good, hard contact at all this spring. And he struck out 6 times in 14 ABs. Maybe he figures it out and goes on to a great career. I’m not addressing that here.
All I’m saying is that you can’t compare results – ANY results – achieved against single-A pitching to what they would be against major league pitching.
It was a fun statcast thing used in post to explain some of the excitement surrounding Alonso.
Either way you’re a solid reader and commenter on here for awhile so you know my love for Dom and fact that he’s younger and is overall better IMO based on watching them (yes in minors against A ball pitchers)
I disagree wholeheartedly. If you look at the exit velocity leader boards you will see a litany of players who hit below .250. And many stars. What this means is that this is simply a component of an effective hitter, and not the whole story. However, it is something that is certainly better to have than not have. Also, since it is (I’m assuming) an average, it’s something of a proxy measurement for quality of contact as well. I’m sure this is all a moot point though, because whatever miniscule amount of minor league stadiums equipped with Trackman technology must have been able to produce only a week’s worth of plate appearances at best.