PORT ST. LUCIE — Pete Alonso returned to the Mets, and that put Darryl Strawberry and the franchise homer record on alert. So let’s have some fun to begin here and establish the trade deadline, July 31, as the over/under date for the slugger accumulating the 27 homers necessary to become the historic power king of the organization.
Which way are you going?
If it helps, in his worst power year in 2024, Alonso had 22 homers on July 31 in 467 plate appearances. It took until Aug. 17 to reach 27 homers in his 529th plate appearance.
But, again, this was Alonso’s poorest power season. The 34 he hit were his fewest in a 162-game season and — more reflective of a downturn — he homered in 4.9 percent of his plate appearances, by far his career low. Those are still very good power outputs, the 4.9 percent tied for 18th among qualified hitters with Josh Naylor, just behind Jake Burger and Rhys Hoskins (both at 5.0 percent), but just ahead of Bryce Harper and Francisco Lindor (both at 4.8 percent).
