CBS Sports reports:
Mets rookie phenom Pete Alonso has already made history. In the first inning Saturday, he took Cubs starter Jose Quintana deep for home run number 26 on the year.
That wasn't even a bad pitch from Quintana's point of view. It was a hook low and away. Pretty impressive stuff by Alonso.
Then again, no one is really surprised. He's been impressing all season. As noted in that tweet, he has already tied the Mets rookie record for home runs in a season before we even have gotten to July.
Darryl Strawberry hit 26 in 1983. No other rookie in Mets history has even hit 20 homers in a season. Alonso's on pace to get past 50, with 26 home runs in the team's first 77 games.
Speaking of which, there's likely much more than this on the horizon for the young Mets' first baseman.
Only 40 players have ever hit at least 30 home runs before the All-Star break. Alonso has 13 more games after Saturday in order to hit four homers and join that exclusive club. None of those players are rookies.
In fact, Alonso's 26th homer here was also a rookie record. The previous record for home runs before the All-Star break by a rookie was 25 (Cody Bellinger, 2017).
Further, Alonso isn't even that far off the NL rookie record for home runs. Bellinger set it in 2017 with 39. Barring injury, it feels pretty likely he gets there, and then he can set eyes on the all-time rookie record, which is 52 (Aaron Judge, 2017). The only other rookie to top 40 was Mark McGwire with 49 in 1987.
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