A day after we learned the Padres were putting top prospect Fernando Tatis Jr. on their Opening Day roster instead of manipulating his service time, we can add another young player to that list: Mets first baseman Pete Alonso:
Source: Pete Alonso has made the team. He'll be a member of the Mets' Opening Day roster.
As promised, the Mets are starting Alonso in the Majors despite service time considerations. They were committed to carrying their best 25.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) March 27, 2019
This is encouraging. It shouldn't be a novel concept to go with your best 25 players on opening day, but we've seen some high-profile cases where it doesn't happen with players like Kris Bryant and last season with Ronald Acuna.
Alonso, 24, hit .285/.395/.579 with 36 homers and 119 RBI in 132 games across Double-A and Triple-A last season. He was ranked as the 49th best prospect in baseball by Baseball America for this season. Alonso proved himself to the Mets in spring training, too, hitting .368/.394/.647 with five doubles, four homers and 11 RBI in 71 plate appearances.
The Mets certainly aren't going with Alonso to start the season so they can sit him on the bench, so expect him to play most days at first base. Robinson Cano at second, Amed Rosario at short and Jeff McNeil at third should round out the Opening Day infield. Things get a bit murky once Todd Frazier returns from his oblique injury and Jed Lowrie returns from his knee injury, but a lot of who ends up on the bench will come down to who is playing well.
For now, Mets fans have a shiny new toy on opening day.
