The New York Mets should call up first baseman Peter Alonso

The New York Mets have struggled to get quality production from their first basemen this season, but top prospect Peter Alonso could be the player to remedy the situation.

The New York Mets have had an up-and-down season to put it kindly, but are still in contention for the National League East. However, if they really want to make it back to the postseason, New York really needs to address their lack of production at first base as soon as they possibly can.

The platoon of Wilmer Flores and Adrian Gonzalez had a good start to the season, but eventually, both players started to fizzle out as the season went on. As of this writing, Mets first basemen have a .242/.311/.412 (Batting Average/On-base Percentage/Slugging) slash line for the year. To put it bluntly, that kind of production is unacceptable for a team that has World Series aspirations.

Dipping into the free agent market or exploring a trade for an everyday first baseman could be worth looking into, but doing so would either give the Mets a replacement level player or force the Mets to gut an already weak farm system. So, instead of gutting the farm, why not go to the farm for help?

Before you say it: No, bringing up Dominic Smith isn’t the right direction to go in. The 2013 first-round pick hasn’t impressed enough to warrant a spot on the roster and he seems to be in the organization’s doghouse. However, there’s another first baseman in the system that would give the Mets the help they need.

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New York’s 2016 second-round pick out of the University of Florida, Peter Alonso was praised for his raw power coming into the draft, and he flashed some of it in his first two seasons of professional ball. However, the 23-year-old has really come into his own this season and is absolutely tearing the cover off the ball for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

Through 42 games as of this writing, Alonso is slashing an unreal .345/.475/.634 with an impressive 16.9 percent walk-rate in his first full season of Double-A ball. With that kind of production, it’s easy to see why some scouts believe that Alonso has supplanted Smith as the best first baseman in the system. It definitely looks like the Florida product is on the fast track to the majors and the organization may have already taken notice.

Smith played his first career game in right field earlier this week with Triple-A Las Vegas, which leads some believe that the Mets are looking to see if he can help their injury-depleted outfield. However, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they’re making room for Alonso.

While some time in Triple-A will give New York a better grasp of what Alonso is capable of, the club can’t waste any more time looking for a first baseman. Granted, a straight promotion from Double-A seems like an aggressive move, but it’s not like it hasn’t panned out for the Mets before. Michael Conforto was promoted to the bigs straight from Binghamton in 2015 and was a huge factor in New York’s trip to the World Series.

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Is it fair to expect that inserting Alonso into the lineup will bring the Mets back to the postseason? Absolutely not. Can he be an upgrade at first base, though? Definitely. Alonso’s raw power and his advanced approach at the plate is good enough to make him a middle-of-the-order threat. Even if he struggles to start, I think Mets fans will agree that anybody else would be better than sticking with a Gonzalez-Flores tandem. Honestly, what do the Mets have to lose?

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