PORT ST. LUCIE – As someone who grew up in Tampa and still lives in the area, the last six months have been nirvana for Pete Alonso, a sports fan.
In this stretch, the Stanley Cup and the Lombardi Trophy were lifted for Lightning and Buccaneers, respectively. And a third team of professionals from the Tampa area, Rays, advanced to Game 6 of the World Series.
Everything further aroused Alonso’s appetite for success in his Mets first base job. Alonso simply wants to bring a missing piece of hardware to New York – the Commissioner’s Trophy.
“The goal for us is to be that last team at the end of the year and be able to see how much the city of Tampa was flying. Friday after a team training.
“To have that buzz, to have that energy, to have that ferocity, that emotion, this is a privilege and it starts now with attention to detail and going out there and competing on our bottoms and going out there and wanting to win and do anything for a victory. Being in this kind of environment is a privilege and I can’t wait for that. I hope that all five neighborhoods will turn into a massive party in blocks when we do it “.
Alonso followed his historic 2019 season, in which he set a debutant record in MLB, throwing 53 homers, with a second-year slip, if you can call it over 60 games. In total, he finished with a respectable .231 / .326 / .490 slash line with 16 homers and 35 RBI for a team that finished last in the NL East.
No one will root harder to get back to a full season than Alonso, who said he was built for the marathon, but not necessarily the sprint.
“In the season of sixty games, I can’t put too much merit into that, because I know it’s hard,” Alonso said. “Last year was a very abnormal year – not just baseball, but I think for all of us. This is a year of endurance and I’m glad we can play 162 this year. ”
Alonso fell early last season and showed improvement by mid-August, but the Mets were quarantined for a week after a player and coach tested positive for COVID-19 and that momentum stopped. Alonso started a new wave at the end of the season.
“I’m very happy that this happened last year, because I feel very prepared for this year and last year I exposed a lot of things that I needed to improve and I’m ready to leave,” Alonso said. “I’m ready to have fun and go there and play.”
Without the designated universal hitter, Alonso will prepare as if he were the first regular base. If an agreement is reached to implement universal DH before the season between MLB and MLBPA, it could put Dominic Smith defensively superior at first base, most of the time, with Alonso at DH.
“I think I’m a very good first baseman and I just want to really play ball,” Alonso said. “I am a first base and I am a position player. I’m not DH. I don’t want to be labeled that way because I worked too hard and I feel like I played well.
“In 2019 I played very well at first base. In 2020 I did not have the best year, whether it is offensive or defensive, but this year I have a great opportunity and I want to grow as a person and as a player and I feel that I will never think of myself as DH. I will always think of myself as a first base. ”
Alonso arrived at the camp last year with the goals of winning a gold glove and ending the season on a “drunk as a hell” parade float. He said yes on Friday when asked if he has the same goals for 2021.
“It’s going to be a good year,” Alonso said.