Convincing the Mets ‘premier slugger to stop focusing on home points is Chile Davis’ big challenge.
The last few days, the Mets’ hit coach would like to believe Pete Alonso got the message.
“I think Pete was a little pushy, but I think the last few games that Pete played, that was more Pete,” Davis told The Post in a phone interview. “He’s coming back. I think he will do well. I liked his last few games. We need to get the homers out of his head. He just needs to hit. ”
Alonso went in with just one homer on Saturday – after breaking an MLB rookie record 53 last season – but more disappointing was that he hit .204 / .348 / .278 when the game began Saturday.
Friday, he just missed a homer against the Marlins, took a double, and ended up with a 2-for-4 performance, perhaps a sign that he is about to break out. Davis warned Alonso for the season that he would be notified differently this year, and has seen it come to fruition.
“Heads will plague you if you find that dangerous,” Davis said. ‘They will plead with you to see if they can get you to leave your zone. The only way the league can ever figure you out is to have them outside your zone. They will never invent a hitter pitching in his zone, and if you do not leave your zone, they will come to you. I just want to keep him aggressive with a statement there, not keep him passive. ”
The 60-year-old Davis, who works remotely at home in Arizona – a pre-existing health state classifies him as at high risk if he were to contract coronavirus – has seen a lot of positive feedback from the lineup, despite the fact that he has difficulty score runs. At the root of those problems was the MLB high 8.79 runners left at the base, the Mets were average when they started playing.
“You have to look at the positive things, and I talked to the guys about it,” Davis said. “They’re constantly creating scoring opportunities and that’s not the easy part, that’s the hard part about making them, and they’re starting to capitalize on them.”
The shortened schedule, Davis said, helps the psyche of a team struggling to score runs.
“I think this whole 60-game season is challenging,” Davis said. ‘Sometimes I think it forces a sense of urgency on these young players. In a normal 162-game schedule when a man starts slowly, he is not really worried about it. He notes he has the season to build on, but in a 60-game season you start slowly for eight, 10 games, you find yourself pressured for no reason. You just have to be more discriminating with the help you render toward other people. ”
Davis cited the at-bats he saw from rookie Andres Gimenez and the way Robinson Cano was swinging before going on the injured list as two of the early positives.
Much of Davis’ interaction with players is through Zoom conversations, which he says has been an adjustment.
“I think it’s not different that I have personal interaction like we would at the ballpark,” Davis said. “But many things are different. Even if you are there, you are limited to how much work you can put in, with all the social distance. Everything is different.
“Everything changes in life, but that’s drastic. I’m used to talking, going into the closet and sitting next to her and discussing things and hearing her thoughts. ‘
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