Why Pete Alonso is literally baseball's next big thing

NEW YORK -- Maybe it's too easy to say that Pete Alonso was born to play for the New York Mets, the team that plays in the borough of Queens, where Pete's grandfather settled as a teenager in the 1930s after fleeing the Spanish Civil War from his native Barcelona and where Pete's father was born.

Maybe it's too ambitious to suggest that, just 23 games into his major league career, the rookie first baseman with the prodigious power stroke will be a star, not just because of his production in numbers but in his ability to engage the fans with his energy and enthusiasm.

Maybe it's simply too much to expect Alonso to keep hitting this way, bashing long home runs and taking a half-swing on a…