Throughout the majority of the 2016 season, the Florida Gators have been a top the baseball rankings thanks to veteran 1B Peter Alonso, who was just named a Third Team All American by Baseball America.
Alonso has been a huge contributor to the Gators since stepping foot on campus in 2014, as he has been the anchor in the batting line-up the past two seasons. Alonso led the Gators this spring in home-runs (12) and runs batted in (52).
On Thursday night, the New York Mets drafted Peter Alonso in the second round of the 2016 MLB First-Year Player Draft.
Alonso becomes the 66th Gator drafted under 9th year head coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
Player Evaluation
Since arriving on campus, 1B Pete Alonso has been one of the top hitters in this Gator line-up and one of the best fielding first baseman. Nothing wows you about Alonso, he is a career .311 hitter, an on-base percentage of over .400 (.403), and an excellent fielding percentage of .989.
1B Peter Alonso also has very good eye while standing in the box, over the last two years he has a 47/52 BB/K ratio. He is a smart, powerful, and pure hitter.
Alonso is also the veteran leader within the clubhouse for this ball club. A guy whose been to Omaha once in his career, he has help guide and lead this young Gator team through a year with such high expectations. He is the kind of character guy most clubs want in their organization.
Career at Florida
Junior 1B Peter Alonso was not drafted out of high school but was still unclear on where he’d play college ball. He chose the Gators over his childhood team, the Miami Hurricanes.
As a freshman, Alonso was an SEC All-Freshman team member after hitting .290 in conference play, which was second best on the team. Alonso showed signs of power as well in his freshman year by hitting four home-runs, all in league play. In 2014 he was named an NCBWA Second Team Freshman All-American.
His second season as a Gator didn’t get off to a great start after missing the teams first 30 games with a broken foot. In the 39 games he played in, he started everyone after returning from injury. Alonso posted a .301 batting average, drove in 32 runs, hit 10 doubles and knocked five balls out of the park in a breakout season. In 2015, he was named to the SEC All-Tournament Team.
The Tampa native has had a phenomenal junior campaign in the 2016 season, which is why this team is two wins away from another trip to Omaha. Alonso has bolstered a career high batting-average (.368), hits (71), doubles (15), home-runs (12), runs batted in (55), slugging percentage (.632), and on-base percentage (.464).
Once again, due to injury (broken hand), Alonso had to miss 10 games late in the season but returned just in time for the Gators regional this past weekend. In his first three games back in the line-up, Alonso went 8-13 (.615) at the plate, driving in eight runs, while also crushing three home-runs. He was the 2016 Gainesville Regional MVP.
Chances Alonso Comes Back
In my opinion, I believe 1B Peter Alonso will sign with a team following this weekend’s draft. In a short two and a half years, he has proven what he can not doing do in the field, but what he is capable of doing with the bat.
With Alonso suffering multiple injuries at his time in the Orange and Blue, I don’t see him passing up an opportunity to play at the high level with the risk of an injury happening again next year.
He has proven he’s a versatile player, and there’s an organization who is going to get one heck of a player.