Scouts I spoke to for this story were mostly in agreement that he has bounced back nicely from the 60-game pandemic season in which he felt the weight of expectations and often showed his frustration at failure, to the point where he projects as a good bet to be among the home run leaders for years to come.
“He still chases upstairs more than you’d like to see, even from a slugger,” said one scout, “but I’ve seen him make adjustments and be willing to shorten up with two strikes and go the other way. He’s not an all-or-nothing guy up there, and he has tremendous power to all fields, so he should continue to grow as a hitter and be in that 40-home run range most years.
“He could hit 50 again, but I think everything would have to fall right for him to do that. It would help if he had guys around him in the lineup that were hitting, to take some pressure off him. Right now he’s the one Mets’ hitter that other teams are singling out as the guy they can’t let beat them.”
One scout was less optimistic than others, making the point that Alonso overswings too often in RBI situations and wonders if living up to expectations/controlling his emotions will always be an issue for him.
“There’s obviously a lot to like but I still see a relatively young player who gets himself out too often because he gets himself so geared up in certain situations,” the scout said. “Because of that I feel like pitchers can exploit the holes in his swing when they really need to. He’s always a threat but I need to see him control the strike zone a little better, especially in pressure situations, before I can say he’ll be a superstar for the long haul.”
Zeile, who observes Alonso more than just about anybody as the Mets’ pre- and postgame analyst, is in general agreement with the scouts that the 26-year-old first baseman still has some flaws to smooth out, but he also believes Alonso is developing into one of the most feared sluggers in the majors.
“There are so many things that he does well for a big guy,” Zeile said by phone recently. “He’s not just a feast-or-famine slugger. His swing is sound, he covers a lot of areas of the plate, he murders mistakes, and he’ll take a tough pitch and hit it hard to the opposite field.
“That’s what’s really intriguing about him and speaks to his ceiling: He will hit low-and-away pitches to right field, he’ll hit balls down-and-in off the left field foul pole, and he’ll hit balls out over the plate, 450 feet to right-center. When he’s being selective, he’s really, really dangerous.”