Alonso earns spot on Opening Day roster

The Mets will open their season Thursday in Washington with Pete Alonso, their top-ranked prospect, on their 25-man roster, according to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.
After a strong Spring Training and a fantastic 2018 campaign in both Double-A and Triple-A, Alonso will face Max Scherzer at Nationals Park on Opening Day.
Vying for the starting first base job this season in the Grapefruit League, Alonso hit .368/.394/.647 with four home runs and 11 RBIs in 71 plate appearances. For the Mets, those numbers only confirmed what they saw from the 24-year-old first baseman in 2018. After batting .314 with a .440 on base percentage to go with 15 home runs in just 65 games for Double-A Binghamton, Alonso earned a promotion to Triple-A Las Vegas and did not stop his strong performance.

With the 51s, Alonso registered a .585 slugging percentage and hit 21 home runs, driving in 67 runs in as many games, numbers indicating he was more than ready for a big-league promotion. In total, batting .285/.395/.579 with 36 home runs and 119 RBIs helped him earn a more serious look at a big league roster spot to begin 2019.

Alonso was battling for a roster spot all spring with first baseman Dominic Smith, who split time between New York and Vegas last season. It's unclear whether Smith will get playing time with the Mets as a first baseman or in the outfield. Smith, 23, also had a nice spring, sporting a .321/.367/.464 line. Smith will also be contending with offseason acquisition J.D. Davis for playing time. Obtained from Houston in the offseason, the 25-year-old infielder struggled in 42 games with the Astros last year but posted a scorching .342/.406/.583 line with Triple-A Fresno. 

Playing time for Alonso, Smith and Davis will become further complicated when Todd Frazier and Jed Lowrie return from injury, but for now it seems like Alonso has separated himself from the pack.
A second-round pick in 2016 from the University of Florida, Alonso impressed from the start. He hit .321 over 30 games in the New York-Penn League in 2016 before jumping to the Florida State League in 2017. Alonso proceeded to hit 16 home runs in Port St. Lucie that year before a late-season promotion to Double-A, where he continued his rise through the Mets system to Queens.