Florida baseball alumnus Pete Alonso's MLB success surprised this expert
Florida baseball alumnus Pete Alonso's MLB success surprised this expert
There is a sizeable handful of former Florida Gators currently playing for Major League Baseball teams, but perhaps the most well-known and best-performing of the bunch is New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso.
Nicknamed the "Polar Bear," the Tampa, Florida, product played for the Orange and Blue from 2014 to 2016, just missing out on the 2017 national championship campaign by a year. Alonso was drafted in the second round of the 2016 MLB draft with the 64th overall pick by the Mets, but was only the fifth-highest selection among UF alumni in the draft.
And that is where The Athletic's roundtable discussion regarding players who ended up being a much better pro than they thought, curated by Mitch Light and included four representatives from ESPN and one from D1Baseball. Mike Ferrin of ESPN chose Alonso as his pick.
"I thought he was sort of an Ivan Melendez (Texas) type, a big power guy, then he was going to get to pro ball and he was going to really struggle. What I didn't understand was the guy really knew how to hit. I think even now, he still doesn't get appreciated for how good of a hitter he is. He knows how to use the middle of the field. He knows the situations that call for him to drive in a run. That wasn't readily apparent to me when he was at Florida," Ferrin notes.
"He also wasn't the biggest star on those teams. He was a little bit further down on the list. And he wasn't the most dynamic presence. I had no idea he was going to be the player he is now. Testament to his work ethic and his intelligence. And he's also got way better as a defender."
Pete Alonso's MLB career stats
Since breaking into the big leagues with a Rookie of the Year award in 2019, Alonso has played in 920 total regular-season games over seven seasons, slashing .252/.343/.518 in 3,933 plate appearances with 164 doubles, eight triples, 243 home runs and 649 RBI, along with 535 runs scored. Stretching over 16 playoff appearances, the UF alumnus is slashing .278/.429/.574 for an insane 1.003 OPS with four homers, 10 runs scored and 10 runs batted in over 58 plate appearances.
Alonso also has two Home Run Derby titles to his name — earned in 2019 and 2021 — in five tries and is the only currently active MLB player to have won multiple derbies.
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