Every time Pete Alonso sets a goal for himself, he reaches it. Or at least that was the case at the start of his career.
In 2019, he was determined to make the Opening Day roster as a rookie, and he succeeded. He expressed his desire to win the Home Run Derby and donate a portion of the cash prize to charity, which he did. And in September, he saw yet another goal come to fruition when he broke Aaron Judge’s rookie home run record.
Upon his arrival to Port St. Lucie, Alonso revealed his latest objective: to win a Gold Glove award. Alonso wants to silence his doubters and definitively prove that he is one of the most talented defenders at his position.
There’s no doubt that Alonso is committed to improving his defense, but can he actually win a Gold Glove? Although it’s a lofty ambition, it’s not as improbable as you may think.
DRS, UZR, and OAA
For Alonso to win a Gold Glove, he’ll need to upgrade several facets of his defensive game. Nearly every available metric rated Alonso as a subpar defender in his first two seasons.
While his Ultimate Zone Rating in 2019 was a relatively respectable 1.8, other stats told a different story. For instance, his Defensive Runs Saved tally came in at -3, meaning that he was three runs worse than the average first baseman.
Infield Outs Above Average, the latest fielding analytic developed by Statcast, was even harsher in its evaluation of Alonso. OAA is a range-based metric that measures how well a player converts batted balls into outs in relation to his peers. That stat graded Alonso at -7, which ranked dead last among all qualified first basemen.
No matter how you slice it, Alonso’s fielding abilities paled in comparison to his offensive prowess as a rookie. The encouraging news for Mets fans is that Alonso did excel in one particular defensive category.
Diving, Sliding, and Jumping
Most advanced analytics have not been not kind to Alonso when it comes to his fielding. Yet Alonso’s rookie season was not without some highlight reel defensive plays.
In fact, according to Sports Info. Solutions, Alonso led all major leaguers with 34 plays made by either diving, sliding, or jumping. Twenty-three of those were diving plays, and no other first baseman had more than eleven.
If anything, this data suggests that Alonso’s defensive limitations are more attributable to over-aggressiveness than lack of range. As Mets fans will recall, there were several instances in 2019 when the Polar Bear made an impressive diving stop and then proceeded to flub the rest of the play.
Perhaps the most obvious example of this occurred on August 11, 2019 against the Nationals. With the bases loaded and two outs, Jacob deGrom induced a grounder to the right side that should have ended the inning.
Alonso dove to stop the ball, but his throw to first was wild and led to three Nationals runs. Thus, what could have been a stellar diving play resulted in another fielding mistake by a rookie first baseman.
Plays like this indicate that Alonso can improve his defense by not being so overzealous in the field. As demonstrated by the aforementioned diving plays stat, Alonso has the athleticism to get to plenty of batted balls.
However, he must exercise more restraint and place more trust in the fielders around him. Alonso has a tendency to dive for balls that would be easier plays for the second baseman to make, and this habit has led to unnecessary baserunners throughout his career so far.
The Freddie Freeman Precedent
To evolve from below-average fielder to Gold Glove winner, Alonso should take inspiration from NL East rival Freddie Freeman. Back in 2014, the only NL first baseman worse than Freeman in terms of DRS was the notoriously lead-footed Ryan Howard.
But Freeman got back on track the next season and ended up taking home a Gold Glove in 2018. Though always considered decent in the field, Freeman fully flourished under the tutelage of infield guru Ron Washington.
Pete Alonso is a right-handed thrower, which is generally considered a disadvantage at first base. But, as demonstrated by Freeman, certain players can overcome this limitation by displaying unexpected agility and nimble footwork.
Simply put, if a player like Freddie Freeman can go from the bottom of the defensive leaderboards to one of the best fielders at his position, Alonso can do the same.
Searle’s Final Say
Pete Alonso is determined to win a Gold Glove, and he’ll put in the work necessary to make strides on defense. While earning the honor won’t be an easy task, he’s proven time and time again that it’s unwise to doubt him.
He’s made the necessary adjustments to become an elite offensive weapon, and his perfectionist mentality should translate to better glovework as well.
Even if he falls short of a Gold Glove, expect Alonso to record better defensive stats than he did in his otherwise stellar rookie campaign.
Do you think that his diving is a result of the poor footwork around the bag? Usually when a player is diving for balls it’s because he couldn’t get his feet under him quickly enough.
Could it also be poor positioning from the Mets coaching staff? Do you think this will improve with the new coaching staff incoming?