New York Mets: 3 things to watch for this Spring Training

Will Peter Alonso be the starting First Baseman on Opening Day?

Peter Alonso isn’t even the Mets’ top prospect coming into 2019, yet he’s easily the most talked about.

It’s not hard to see why, either. In 132 games split between AA and AAA last year (65 in AA, 67 in AAA), Alonso had 36 home runs and 119 RBIs, along with a slash line of .285/.395/.579.

The 24 year-old is easily the most talented First Baseman on the roster. However, that does not necessarily mean he will win the job.

One thing going against Alonso is that he has yet to play a game in the big leagues.

Why is this an issue for a guy with so much talent? Well, because the Mets have a bunch of people that could start at First Base on Opening Day already on their major league roster, too.

Todd Frazier is arguably the favorite to start at First to open the season. Originally a Third Baseman, Frazier would shift to First due to the signing of Jed Lowrie, who will presumably start the season at the hot corner.

They also have Dominic Smith, a former top prospect himself who will be attempting to revitalize his so far lackluster major league career.

Another roadblock for Alonso is his service time. A full MLB season is 187 days, according to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. However, a player only needs to log 172 days to have reached a full year of service.

Considering the fact the a player accrues service just by being on the 25-man roster, teams will typically hold prospects back two weeks or so so they don’t start their service clocks early.

This, in turn, will allow teams to have another year of control of a player before they hit free agency.

This is what the Mets will most likely do with Alonso, which makes a lot of sense in the long term but none whatsoever in the short term.

The First Base battle will definitely be something to look out for, and seeing if Alonso will win the job is the biggest question of all.