Pete Alonso (2022)
Pete Alonso 🇺🇸(2022)
Peter Morgan Alonso (December 7, 1994, Tampa, Florida), nicknamed "Polar Bear," is an American professional baseball first baseman for the New York Mets. He made his MLB debut during the 2019 season.
Alonso made his MLB debut on Opening Day in 2019 and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award that year, setting a major league record for rookies with 53 home runs.
His awards so far: two-time Home Run Derby winner (2019 and 2021), three-time All-Star (2019, 2022, 2023).
In the 2022 season, he led in RBIs along with Aaron Judge, both with 131, ranked 4th in most home runs with 40 HR, tied with Mike Trout. He also closed the season with a batting average of .271 and .869 OPS.
He was also a finalist for the National League MVP, finishing 8th in the voting.
In this analysis, we will examine his 2022 season, offensive power, plate discipline, and compare his numbers with other players.
If you have any questions regarding the types of pitches (Fastball, Changeup, etc.), here is all the necessary information
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The data provided is from Baseball Savant.
1-Hits
In 2022, he made 162 hits, surpassing his personal record of 155 hits in 2019. Out of these, 95 were singles, 27 were doubles, and 40 were home runs (ranked in the top 5).
In the chart below, we can observe the direction of the hits, with 32% going to left field, 50% to center field, and 18% to right field.
He is a player well-defined by his offensive power, averaging 46 home runs per season.
In the chart below, you can observe the percentage of hits for each type of pitch Alonso faced. The majority were against Sinkers (29%), followed by FS Fastballs (23%), and Sliders with 17%.
Additionally, we can see that he produced the most hits in the lower part of the strike zone, with 21 hits, out of which 5 were against Changeups. He also connected 18 hits in the center of the strike zone, with 6 of those against Sinkers. 31% of the hits were in the Lower zone, and he also had a significant percentage of hits outside the strike zone at 25%.
In the chart below, you can see that the vast majority of his singles were against Sinkers (32). Out of the 40 home runs he hit, 11 were off Fastballs. Thanks to his sheer power, he managed to achieve a 30% Barrel rate (hits with a velocity greater than 98 mph and a launch angle between 26 and 30 degrees) among his hits. Ranked in the Top 10 with the most barrels. you can see more information about Barrel here)
Out of the 162 hits, 104 were at a velocity greater than 98 mph, and he also drove in 131 runs, marking his best professional record. You can find more information about launch speed angle here
Out of the 40 home runs, 14 were "No Doubters," which means that these 14 had a distance that could have been a home run in any of the 30 ballparks.
To complement the analysis, we can see below a radial graph displaying the launch angle and exit velocity of the 162 hits. It reflects his batting style, with a strong tendency to hit the ball with power.
With Runners in Scoring Position (RISP), he performed excellently, maintaining a batting average of .300, 48 hits, 17 home runs, and 1.099 OPS. Additionally, he recorded 31 strikeouts, accounting for 19% of his at-bats.
To conclude this section, we can observe the Heatmap of FS Fastball and Sinker below, illustrating where he connected his hits with each pitch type.
2- Plate Discipline
Pete Alonso was one of the players among the top 50 with the most strikeouts in 2022, totaling 128, out of which 27 were called strikeouts and 101 were swinging strikeouts.
It's also worth noting that out of the 128 strikeouts, 43 occurred in the lower right area outside the strike zone (the red zone in the chart below), and of those 43, 19 were Sliders, an additional 7 were Sweeper (a variant of a slider).
One of his weaknesses was a significant number of Swing and Misses outside the strike zone with 180 (considering only called strikes and swinging strikes), ranking in the top 20 with the most failures in this category.
I must clarify that the chart below takes into account only strikes (called strikes and swinging strikes). I do this to provide a clearer perspective on where he had the most difficulties, as showing only strikeouts would be 128, while the strikes amounted to 638 pitches in total.
Of course, it's essential to consider the pitch sequence, which is not taken into account here.
The FS Fastball was the pitch that obtained the most strikes, accounting for 29% of the total. It garnered the highest number of strikes in the previously mentioned lower right area outside the strike zone, with 131 strikes. A significant portion of the strikes occurred in the lower zone, making up 24%, and outside the strike zone, contributing to 37%.
In the graph below, we can once again see the types of hits based on launch angle Pete Alonso faced in 2022, this time comparing hits and batted ball attempts (any ball that Judge made contact with but did not result in a hit). Launch speed angle link
We can see that the percentage of Barrels was more likely to result in a successful hit. This type of graph showcases his batting style, which demonstrates that when Alonso bats, could be a Home Run.
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