Joe Genord (Jacob Resnick/Mets Minors)
Edgardo Alfonzo knew that face from somewhere.
By the end of the night, Alfonzo knew exactly where he had seen a player like Joe Genord before.
Genord, making his professional debut, hit a towering home run out of MCU Park on Friday to lift the Brooklyn Cyclones over the Staten Island Yankees, 5-4, in Brooklyn’s first opening day win since 2005.
“He does everything exactly like Pete Alonso did,” said Alfonzo, who coached the Mets’ home run leader during his time in Brooklyn in 2016.
Genord, like Alonso, plays first base. Both attended school in Florida (Alonso in Gainsville and Genord at USF), and both bear a striking resemblance. Alonso was listed at 6 feet 2 inches, 225 pounds during his Cyclones tenure, while Genord stands at a bulky 6 feet 1 inch, 227 pounds.
And Genord hits the ball hard, too. His home run, which was the first hit by a member of the 2019 draft class, traveled an estimated 412 feet and left the bat at 103 mph.
Joe Genord got his pro career started in style with this solo shot, his first hit since being drafted out of @USFBaseball pic.twitter.com/UutxVPUYmV
— Brooklyn Cyclones (@BKCyclones) June 15, 2019
“The experience alone is something you dream of,” Genord, the Mets’ ninth-round draft choice, said. “Hitting a home run, and to do it in the first game, it’s just an unbelievable feeling.”
Genord’s night began with a rocket of a ground ball to the hole at shortstop in the second inning, which prompted Yankees infielder Oswald Peraza to make a highlight diving stop and throw. Welcome to pro ball.
“I was thinking, ‘at least I got a barrel!'”
Genord wasn’t the only recent draftee to make noise in his debut. Nic Gaddis, a 16th-round pick from Jacksonville State, doubled twice including the eventual game-winner in the sixth inning.
“I normally don’t really get nervous, but my first game in pro ball, I was a little bit jittery at first,” Gaddis said. “After that first AB and the first inning I was able to settle down and relax and it was a lot of fun.”
Alfonzo, who had just met this group of newly-drafted players on Thursday, simply told them to not try to do too much. It’s only one game, but it appears to be paying immediate dividends.
“They all did a pretty good job,” Alfonzo said, also noting sixth-round pick Zach Ashford, who recorded his first hit as well, and seventh-rounder Luke Ritter. “Hopefully they become a big part of the Cyclones this year.”
