Picking an MVP for the New York Mets in the first half wasn’t easy since their overall success has come with strong contributions from pretty much everyone. The lineup has been strong while the starting rotation stepped up to survive absences from Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer. The bullpen was a bit of a weak link but Edwin Diaz’s brilliance was able to mask a lot of flaws by providing Buck Showalter with a lockdown weapon to end games.
Diaz nearly won the first-half MVP himself by striking out over half the batters he faced on the season but the honors will go to first baseman Pete Alonso. While no one is questioning the impact that Diaz has had at the end of games, Alonso’s ridiculous year from the middle of the lineup has had more of an overall impact on the Mets’ success.
Alonso leads the Mets in home runs with 24 and has a major-league leading 78 RBIs, putting him on pace to shatter the franchise’s single-season record for RBIs, currently held by Mike Piazza and David Wright with 124 a piece in 1999 and 2008 respectively. The Mets have also seen Alonso become a more complete hitter as he is going the other way more, avoiding reliance on being a dead pull hitter like he was at points early in his career.
The strong campaign that Paul Goldschmidt is having in St. Louis may make it hard to become the first Mets’ player to ever win an MVP award but he is in position to do so if Goldschmidt stumbles in the second half. Alonso has also been extremely productive despite a true threat behind him in the batting order after Eduardo Escobar failed to hold that spot early in the season. J.D. Davis, Mark Canha and Jeff McNeil are among the many hitters who have batted behind Alonso but he has still managed to be a problem for opposing teams.
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