Weekly Statistical Spotlight: Pete Alonso
This week’s Statistical Spotlight features Pete Alonso. Alonso has shown flashes of his dominance as of late. For games from May 18 to May 24, Pete slashed .259/ .333/.556 with a respectable .889 OPS. During this span, he has started to consistently showcase his power by hitting two home runs and two doubles. How has his approach at the plate recently attributed to this?
Depicted below are Alonso’s hits during last week’s games. From the graph, we can see that Pete’s power came from the outside part of the plate, in which he hit both his doubles and home runs. We can also tell that Alonso can protect the inside of the plate by producing singles from these pitches.
Pete’s hardest hit balls were the two home runs on the outside part of the plate. They had exit velocities of 106.1 and 103.5 mph, respectively. His two doubles had exit velocities of 97.3 and 100.3 mph, respectively.
Not only was Pete able to place some power into these hits, his launch angles for these hits were also stellar. His launch angle for his doubles were 25 and 26 degrees, respectively. while his home runs were both 32 degrees. Consistency at its finest!
Pete Alonso. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Two of his three singles over the past week were less than ten degrees, which coincides with data from MLB.com that states that 10 degrees and under results in grounders and 25 and over results in fly balls. In between 10 and 25 degrees results in a line drive.
It is great to see Pete hitting the ball hard and connecting to produce extra-base hits. Despite Pete’s 0.5 WAR on the season, look for this to increase as his bat starts to heat up. A way he can ensure this happen is to keep attacking outside pitches. This is the part of the plate he has had the most success with.
Additionally, as Alonso builds on this progress, look for Pete to start making adjustments on the inside part of the plate to pull and lift pitches. With this adjustment, Pete will cover the whole plate range, making him once again one of the most fearsome power hitters in the bigs.
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