New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso denied that his pivotal, go-ahead home run in last year’s Wild Card Series victory against the Milwaukee Brewers stemmed from new Yankees closer Devin Williams tipping his pitches — a dynamic that had previously been speculated about online based on footage that captured Alonso congressing with Mets hitting coach Jeremy Barnes ahead of the matchup.
Rather, Alonso broke down the at-bat on a pitch-by-pitch basis with MLB.com. The entire exchange is worth reading to gain an appreciation for the challenges and thought processes associated with hitting at a high level in the majors. Still, here’s the most pertinent part on this matter:
Asked about it, both Alonso and Barnes insisted that pitch tipping was not part of their discussion — “These things are not as blatant as people think they are,” Barnes said. Instead, the hitting coach was reminding Alonso to home in on the window. If a pitch looked outside, Alonso would be able to handle it as it ran back over the plate. If it seemed like a strike, it would end up inside. That was especially true for Williams’ changeup, given its depth.
Here, once more, is a look at the home run in all its moving image glory:
Williams, for his part, said the following of the pitch last October: “It could have been better, but it wasn’t the worst pitch I’ve ever thrown. I wanted to go away with it. I got it there. It was a good piece of hitting.”
The Mets would advance all the way to the NL Championship Series before being downed by the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Both Alonso and Williams have since been involved in offseason transactions. Alonso re-upped with the Mets following a prolonged stay on the free-agent market; Williams was traded to the Yankees as part of a deal that sent lefty Nestor Cortes and infielder Caleb Durbin to Milwaukee.
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