A few baseball players and personalities seem to believe that participating in a Home Run Derby can alter a batter’s swing for a certain period of time. The event is geared to generate power, so hitters will generally try to hit hard fly balls. However, that is a myth, and there isn’t enough evidence over the years that can actually be thought of as a general rule. And for New York Mets’ slugger Pete Alonso, the competition seems to have had the opposite effect: he has been a beast since the break.
The Mets have been able to keep occupying first place in the NL East division for eleven consecutive weeks, and it has been, in great part, thanks to Alonso’s recent contributions.