The New York Mets spent most of the winter and prepared for life without Pete Alonso.
Now they have spent the first 13 matches of the season and wondered where they would be without him.
Slugger will look to continue its dry start to the season on Saturday afternoon when Mets visits athletics in the middle of a three-game Interleague series in West Sacramento, Calif.
Left-hander David Peterson (1-0, 2.53 era) is planned to start for Mets against the right hand JT Ginn, which will be recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas to make his season debut for athletics.
Alonso hammered and collected three RBIs on Friday night, when Mets held a couple of comeback attempts from athletics in a 7-6 victory.
Alonso finished a triple shy for the bike by walking 3-for-3 with a sacrificial fly and a hit of pitch. The 30-year-old, who met free agency last fall but remained unsigned until he joined February 12 to a two-year agreement with an opt-out after this season, beats a robust .378 with four homers and 18 RBI. He leads majors with a .778 sluggish percentage and a 1,260 ops.
The rest of Mets hits a combined .196 with seven homers and 33 RBI.
Alonso needed 36 games last season to reach 18 RBI, when he met .240 and set the entire season’s career low with 34 homers, 88 RBI and a .788 OPS.
“Honestly, just to feel like myself pitch, bat to Bat,” Alonso said. “I just want to make quality wing decisions and just put the ball in the game hard when pitchers come across the plate.”
Ginn, who received the campaign by going 1-0 with a 1.64 era in his first two starts for Las Vegas, will have a chance to meet his former organization Saturday. The right-hander was chosen by Mets in the second round of the 2020 draft and was shared for athletics for Kannan Chris Bassitt on March 12, 2022.
Ginn got the campaign by going 1-0 with a 1.64 era in his first two starts for Las Vegas. He beat by April 3, when he gave up two runs and knocked out 11 over six rounds in a 4-2 extra inning for loss to Sacramento River Cats.
Ginn was 1-1 with a 4.24 era in eight matches (six starts) for athletics last season. He got the victory in the club’s Oakland Finale on September 26 after giving up two runs over 5 1/3 rounds in a 3-2 victory over Texas Rangers.
“Seeing the last game at the Coliseum and him as pitching really opened my eyes,” athletic coach Scott Emerson told MLB.com in spring training. “It was a big game for many people.”
Peterson did not fact in the decision in his latest start for Mets last Sunday, when he gave up a run over 4 2/3 rounds in the team’s 2-1 victory over Toronto Blue Jays. He won his lonely previous start and performance against athletics on August 14, when Southpaw threw 6 1/3 speechless innings when Mets got a 9-1 victory in New York.
Ginn has never opposed Mets.
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