Through a nine-year major league career that has included hundreds of teammates, Travis Jankowski cannot think of many better.
The Rangers outfielder spent only one season with the Mets, but he was around the club from spring training last year until the end of July and came away thinking that Pete Alonso “is one of the best” teammates he has ever had.
“He is probably an all-time great clubhouse guy,” Jankowski said this week. “What he does just for that clubhouse — the mentality he brings, where he has the goofiness to him but also the professional demeanor about him. He knows when to be goofy. He knows when to turn the switch on and say, ‘Hey, it’s go time, let’s win one tonight.’
“That’s something that you can’t quantify. … I was the new guy. [Alonso] making me feel welcome speaks volumes not just to me, but I’m sure to everyone in that clubhouse.”
In light of recent reports that signal the Mets could move Alonso, a few of his teammates of the past and present were asked about the impact the slugger makes away from the field. Such an exercise can be misleading because publicly complimenting is much easier than publicly ripping. Players could be forgiven if they did not wish to comment or preferred to keep their thoughts on Alonso private.
But each player Sports+ approached appeared to want to speak about Alonso, who is set to be a free agent after the 2024 season. Given that the Mets have taken a step back and appear to be targeting 2025 for their next ambitious club, speculation has grown about whether the face of the team follows Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander out the door this offseason (or the following offseason as a free agent).
If so, the Mets would have to replace a homegrown star and perennial 40-home-run threat. And they would have to find someone else to take charge of the microphone on bus trips.
“It can be playing music, it can be [performing] stand-up, it can be kind of like a plethora of things in a show,” said Brandon Nimmo, who knew the Mets clubhouse and bus culture before Alonso and now knows them during Alonso. “It can be bringing guys up to [the front of the bus to] get to know them better.
“It’s a very important role because it gets people to come together a little bit more.”
Alonso was drilled on the wrist June 7 in Atlanta and placed on the injured list June 9, when the Mets began a series in Pittsburgh. As he went through testing and began to rehab a left wrist bone bruise and sprain, he also organized a trip for teammates he no longer was around to visit the Roberto Clemente Museum.
“He wants us to be together off the field, having a good time,” Nimmo said. “Rather than it all being just businesslike at the field. And he’s just a good personality to be around.”
That personality, according to several Mets, knows when levity is needed and knows when to be serious. There is a goofy Alonso who wants his teammates to laugh, and there is an Alonso who “the second he steps in the cage,” Jankowski said, “is not messing around anymore. Everyone knows it’s time to work.”
During this disastrous Mets season, the team has reached several moments in which words were needed. Alonso often has been the one to speak up.
“Things go sideways, he knows what to say,” Tylor Megill said. “He knows how to lighten the mood when people are down or whatnot.
“When we’re all stressed-out, he just lightens the load. … Whether [the team is going] good or bad, he never changes.”
Neither seemingly do his results. In each of his four full seasons, Alonso has clubbed at least 37 and as many as 53 home runs. Since he debuted in 2019, no one has slugged more than his 185 home runs. His 476 RBIs are the most in the span. Only 14 qualified hitters have bested his .875 OPS.
When Steve Cohen sent his letter to season-ticket holders last month, Alonso was listed among the core group of Mets as reason for optimism for the future.
There surely are concerns how the 28-year-old will age at a position whose two largest contracts (Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera) did not go well. There might be concerns about tying up significant money at a non-premium spot such as first base, especially in an era when flexibility is of such importance.
There also would be concerns, though, about how to replace a player who, on and off the field, does not have many peers.
Nimmo acknowledged it would be “a big hole to fill,” in more ways than one.
“There’s not a ton of power hitters like him in the game, for what he brings on the field,” Nimmo said. “It’s hard to find guys that are as talented as him and as good of people as him.”
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Travis Jankowski’s Texas transformation
Jankowski, a Stony Brook product who was a speedy fourth outfielder, defensive replacement and pinch-runner for the 2022 Mets, came back to Citi Field this week as a useful piece of a strong Rangers club.
The veteran has played most games, typically against right-handed pitching, and complemented his strong defense and base-running with nearly league-average hitting, posting a .706 OPS and, notably, a .362 on-base percentage in 90 games.
His role with the Mets did not really call for hitting — he was used sporadically for his other tools, which did not allow for any sort of rhythm at the plate — and he struggled with a .452 OPS in 43 games. His stint in Queens also included a fractured finger that cost him all of June 2022.
“The first thing is just staying on the field,” Jankowski, who has mostly stayed healthy this season, said of his solid 2023 campaign. “The second thing is playing for [Bruce] Bochy. Awesome dude.
“I love Buck [Showalter], Buck’s one of the best managers I’ve ever had as well. Boch has a demeanor about him that’s just: Go play. The old-school mentality, not very analytical-based, more feel-based.
“And then our offense is probably one of the best in the major leagues. Being in a really good lineup, that is something that has helped me out without a doubt.”
Calling on Cortes?
An under-the-radar name to watch this month, when any prospect call-up could signal hope for the future: Carlos Cortes.
A third-round pick in 2018, Cortes has taken a long development path. First a second baseman and later a left fielder, he was valued enough to be sent to the Arizona Fall League in 2021 and opened 2022 with Triple-A Syracuse. But after six weeks with a .464 OPS, he was sent back to Double-A Binghamton, where he did not separate himself.
A year later, the now 26-year-old left-handed hitter might be breaking out. His .858 OPS entered play Thursday as the 26th-best in the International League, with 15 home runs in his first 101 games and plate discipline the team likes, having walked 54 times and struck out 70.
The Mets already have the makings of one surprise, lefty-hitting success story with DJ Stewart. If an injury or two arises, Cortes could get a chance to show whether this emergence is real.
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