First, Alonso has a capability the Yankees usually desperately want: availability. He’s performed 152+ video games in 5 of his six MLB seasons. Conversely, New York sluggers Aaron Decide and Giancarlo Stanton are identified for being damage susceptible.
Discounting his 2016 cup of espresso within the Bronx, Decide has performed simply 4 full seasons in eight years. And in seven years with the Yankees, Stanton has performed only one full season.
Based mostly on their observe file, there’s likelihood Decide or Stanton misses important time annually. And that’s along with another regulars who miss time.
Alonso can also be trending in the appropriate path when it comes to batting common. A constant .260–.270 hitter his first few seasons, he misplaced his potential to get base hits in 2023, hitting a limp .217. His common climbed again to .240 in 2024, and there’s no purpose to assume he can’t get again into the .260s within the subsequent few years.
Plus, Alonso would supply the Yankees with further energy. He crushed a file 53 homers as a rookie in 2019, the yr of the juiced ball (see Gleyber Torres’ 38 lengthy balls that season), after which proved it wasn’t an aberration by placing up 37, 40 and 46 dingers in his subsequent three full seasons. His complete spherical trippers dropped to 34 in 2024, however, once more, there’s no purpose to assume he can’t get again to blasting 40-plus yearly.
Now, Alonso isn’t excellent. He strikes out an excessive amount of (common of 157 over 162 video games) and grounds into a good quantity of double performs (common of 16 over 162 video games). Additionally, he’s a right-handed hitter who pulls most of his HRs and could be taking part in in a stadium constructed for left-handed energy.
Nonetheless, he’s nonetheless well worth the gamble. Right here’s why: If Alonso can flip his efficiency up only a notch and assist lead the Yankees to a World Sequence victory earlier than the Mets can get a championship, the Yankees may have gotten revenge for his or her crosstown rivals’ theft of Soto.
And if not, nicely, not less than the Yankees tried. That’s about all Bombers followers can hope for at this level.
