Peter Alonso is a name that most likely flies out of the mouth of every Mets fan at least once a day. Whether it be tales of his massive home run at the Futures Game, or fans dragging on about how he should be the next prospect called up to the team, he is a player that’s always talked about. Remove the mask of the player however, and you will find an interesting man underneath it.
It is rare to see athletes nowadays truly take advantage of the free college that they are offered in exchange for donning the colors of the school and representing them athletically. Speaking from the perspective of a college student, not only does it drive me up the wall, but is just a downright silly decision on behalf of the athlete. Alonso however is of a different breed. He stayed for three seasons at the University of Florida, making academic strides while entertaining a full schedule of games for the Gators. While on the diamond with the Gators, Alonso raked, compiling a .313 average with 23 career home runs and 124 RBIs. While busy leading his Gators to a third place finish at the College World Series, Alonso was also busy in the classroom.
While the NCAA likes to paint a picture that all of their athletes fit the ideal student-athlete prototype, that simply just isn’t the case. Alonso however fits that mold. You can easily tell how seriously he took his education by reading his work online. Alonso is a contributor for Sporting News, a website that covers sports globally. With his column, he invites us along with him on his journey to reach the big leagues, while also giving us insight on the hard work and mentality that he had to use to get to where he is right now. Having an educated, well-written man like Alonso on your team is beneficial. Not only do you get someone that will be smart on the field and avoid the boneheaded mistakes that the Mets seem to suffer daily from, you get a man that knows how to speak in a cordial manner to the press, which is vital in today’s form of constant news and social media.
Speaking of social media, Alonso’s presence on twitter is one that is well-noted. He is known to be responsive, but the responses that sent the biggest waves around the Mets Twitter community were to ESPN Writer Keith Law. When Law tried to denounce the work of Alonso’s former teammate and now Mets infielder Jeff McNeil, Alonso would be having none of it. After Law tweeted “He’s 26 and in an extreme hitter’s park,” Alonso quickly came to the defense of his teammate, firing back “The kid rakes and has hit pretty much everywhere he has been. How can you discredit a .400 average in AAA?”
Seeing one teammate stand up for another is something you like to see in a ballplayer, even if it is via social media. In addition to the massive potential that he holds, the Mets should covet the honest, educated personality of Alonso. He is mature for his age, and that could be beneficial to him and the team when he finally does get called up.
It is exciting to have a prospect like Alonso.
I am so sick and tired of all the talk that college players should be paid.
As someone who has and is currently putting a couple of kids through college, folks should realize how expensive it is. To go through four years at nearly any four-year **public** university, when considering the ridiculous tuition charges, the unbelievable cost of dorm room and board, on top of all the outrageously high mandatory “fees,” it easily adds up to over $100,000. On top of that, the cost to go to a private school is utterly ridiculous. The manner in which colleges gouge students — kids — is really, really shameful.
In my view, “student-athletes” are in fact well paid to play a sport and receive an education.
Too bad many of them don’t take advantage of the education part.
Kudos to Peter Alonso for making the most of the opportunity he was given to educate himself. It will serve him quite well long after his playing days are over.
There are multiple problems with athletes getting paid, including how much each sports make. If the athletes were to get paid(which I don’t think they should) you’d have to pay every athlete. It would be hard to pay a volleyball player the same amount as a men’s basketball player just based on revenue of each sport.
Not sure how someone who was offered free tuition and living expenses can be considered as making the most of his academic opportunity by not getting a degree. It highlights the “two college” system, one for people to learn and one to make a scant few pro athletes.
No one cares what level of education a player has on a team if you can throw 99 or slash .290/.370/.900
Not only that, but if you do get your degree, but decide to try your hand in pro sports, during which you will not use what you have learned, and you want to go back to the career you started working on in college, you’ll be starting at square 1 as most likely enough time will have passed that you will have forgotten most of you had learned.
It’s less of problem for baseball, because it has a professional minor league system (with real signing bonuses), but for sports like football and basketball, you are forced to go the college route for at least a year as there’s no other “legitimate” professional alternative.
The talk about College atletes getting paid is mainly driven by Basketball Programs/Football Programs that drive tremendous revenue.
A “One and Done” type of athlete is the source of great revenue, and that athlete is now entirely captive to a highly dishonest system that demonstrates no acknowledgement of it’s responsibilities to provide anything more than a Business Arrangement with the Athlete–That’s the System “As-Is”. Thise guys at Kentucky BBall should be Paid!!!! They are controlled between The Sneaker Companys and AAU Hawks, THe NBA who is getting a Free Ride through the AAU/Div1 “Minor Leagues, and The Schools
The System should be illegal
My most endearing comment from Alonso was that he disclosed during an interview that he wants to win every pitch. That’s when you realize a person is special. DeGrom has also said something similar. By breaking down the game to its most minute detail, the components of success aren’t as great. I wish every Met could think like that. Heck, I wish I always thought like that in my life.
Secondly, as Eraff pointed out, for the college football athlete the chances for brain disease is much greater than the chances to play in the NFL and make millions, or knee problems for the basketball player. Also, the rigors of the practices and traveling for games make studying a hardship. Now, if it were like the Armed Forces when after you graduate an academy you need to serve four years, then I would have no problem with that. Meaning, for as many years as you played, you can return to school for free and do nothing but be a student. I think that is fair.
Gus— I’ve always thought that the starting point should be exactly as you stated…an unlimited opportunity to return to school to obtain a degree.
The NCAA and it’s Member Institutions are in an evil and selfish pursuit—it has nothing to do with education for the athletes—I am focusing now on the top 20-50 programs in FB and Basketball—The Penn States and ND’s in FB…The Kentucky’s and LVille and NC’s in BBall
I can see that your focus is on the schools that have the biggest advantage in terms of tv contracts, but lesser schools benefit too. When a lowly ranked D1 school goes to play Norte Dame, they know they’re going to get killed, but they go because even as the visiting team, they will gross more than if they had the home game. The bottom line is that every player risks injury to get the scholarship that everyone covets. Problem is, you don’t get a fair chance to educate yourself compared to your peers, so is there really a benefit?
Unlimited may not be fair to the school, unless the player was injured, but surely a former player that helped his/her school benefit economically deserves the right to have a benefit also without strings attached.