The Mets’ Five Greatest Hitters

Darryl Strawberry (1983-90)

The slugging prodigy from the mean streets of south-central Los Angeles was all but tagged The Chosen One when signed by the Mets, gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated as a can’t-miss prospect. At first, Strawberry appeared on the path to fulfilling such expectations by winning the National League’s Rookie of the Year award at age 21 in 1983 with his first of nine straight years belting 26 or more home runs. And although he emerged as the first genuine star hitter for a franchise that previously relied solely on top pitching, his path to superstardom ran right off the cliff, dragged down a dark abyss filled with numerous bouts of substance abuse and run-ins with the law.

Tall, slender but powerful, the left-handed hitting Strawberry disappointed on the field only with a batting average that rarely climbed above the .270 mark. But he walked often to build up his on-base percentage and more than occasionally was on the run to steal a base; three years before Jose Canseco became baseball’s first 40-40 player (40 home runs and 40 steals in the same year), Strawberry nearly did it himself—but missed nearly a third of the year to a thumb injury that kept his totals to 29 homers and 26 steals. In 1987, he barely missed 40-40 again, finishing with 39 blasts and 36 swipes (both career highs). A year later, he hit 39 jacks again and finished second in the NL MVP vote. His star power was such that he was named to the All-Star Game every year with the Mets except for his rookie season; his 252 home runs with New York remains the franchise high.

A free agent after the 1990 season, Strawberry came home and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but soon the weight of his personal issues became too burdensome and collapsed upon him, struggling just to put up part-time numbers over the remaining eight years of his career. He became a walking mess, delving into alcohol, drugs, prostitutes, tax woes, depression and spousal abuse; a bout with colon cancer in 1999 only complicated matters. Strawberry’s life became so bad that he once told a judge that he seriously contemplated suicide.

The final years of Strawberry’s career were spent in relative peace with the high-flying New York Yankees of the 1990s, a time when many ex-Mets stars (including fellow problem child Dwight Gooden) drew their last, fleeting breaths of greatness on a ballfield. Strawberry’s own flashes of brilliance with the Yankees included three home runs in the 1996 ALCS and 24 home runs in 295 at-bats during the team’s juggernaut (114-48) 1998 campaign.

Howard Johnson (1985-93)

After five years spent in the majors struggling with part-time playing roles, subpar averages and fair power, the switch-hitting Johnson lucked into the everyday third base job at New York when incumbent Ray Knight left for bigger bucks, and produced a stunning breakout performance—starting a five-year ride in which he would become one of the NL’s preeminent sluggers, tagging 157 homers with 475 RBIs and 160 steals.

As Johnson belted 36 homers during the 1987 season after averaging only eight over his previous five years, skeptical opponents tried to prove there was more to his sudden power surge than met the eye. He became the poster child for the gamesmanship fad of the year by having his bat routinely confiscated and checked for cork after planting the ball over the fence; never did any of his sticks test positive for such illegal substances. Johnson further surprised by swiping 32 bags, becoming part of the first pair of teammates (along with Strawberry) to go 30-30 in the same year.

Proving he was no one-year wonder, Johnson continued to produce, forging numbers very similar to those of Strawberry—with iffy averages compensated by solid power and a high volume of walks and steals. In 1991, HoJo—as Mets fans came to call Johnson—capped his five-year run by leading the NL with 38 home runs and 117 RBIs. After that, his output tailed off dramatically, and he suddenly found himself playing out the string in the mid-1990s with short, forgettable stops with Colorado and the Chicago Cubs.

Johnson’s only disappointment for the Mets was that he was a postseason bomb—collecting just one hit in 25 at-bats over 10 postseason games.

David Wright (2004-18)

The Virginian native stepped on the ballfield for the Mets at age 21 and never looked back, playing at an All-Star level from Day One and maintaining excellence into his prime years. From that, he emerged as the franchise leader in hits, runs, doubles, RBIs and walks. Some believe he staked his claim as the franchise’s greatest hitter—but any further efforts to convince the holdouts were a challenge as a spinal condition kept him limited to a total of 77 games played over his final four seasons.

A model of top-notch consistency, Wright seldom disappointed for the Mets. When healthy, he managed to top .300 (or come close to it) while knocking out roughly 25-35 home runs and 100-plus RBIs. His only statistical anomaly occurred in 2009, when his home run output suddenly dropped to 10; critics blamed the expansive outfield dimensions at first-year Citi Field, even as he hit the same number of homers at home (five) as he did on the road. (Ironically, he became the first Met to homer at the new ballpark.) A year later, Wright adjusted and belted out 29 longballs, 12 of them in the Citi.

Wright was a seven-time All-Star, the recipient of two Gold Gloves at third base and was an excellent basestealer, peaking in 2007 with 34 swipes while getting caught just five times.

Francisco Lindor (2021-present)

When the switch-hitting shortstop from Puerto Rico became the benefactor of one of ultra-wealthy Mets owner Steve Cohen’s first megadeals (10 years, $341 million), he was asked how effective he’d be at age 38, when the contract would be set to expire. Lindor’s response? “I’ll be a bad mothereffer.” Halfway through that deal, he’s certainly been no less. 

As he was during his previous, four-time All-Star tenure at Cleveland, Lindor with the Mets has provided a robust and consistent combination of power, productivity and speed who always seems to play better as the season progresses—as evidenced by a career batting average nearly 30 points higher in the second half over the first. Yet he endured a rough first year, his worst, at New York with a horrible start, a rare extended (oblique) injury and a cascade of boos from Citi Field fans whom he chided (along with Mets teammate Javier Baez) by pointing thumbs down after getting on base and scoring. He would ultimately apologize for the gesture. 

All has been well in the years to follow for Lindor. reacquiring his almost automatic method of production with an average always floating around .270, runs totaling over 100, and doubles, home runs and stolen bases each adding up to near or above 30. Twice he’s registered 30-30 (homers/steals) seasons, finished runner-up to Shohei Ohtani in the 2024 NL MVP vote (after another horrible start), and the Mets in one stretch won 28 straight games in which Lindor homered—one short of the all-time MLB record. From his troubled early days at Flushing Meadows, Lindor has seen his popularity with diehard Mets fans rise to the point that his name is consistently among the top five jersey sellers within MLB.

Pete Alonso (2019-present)

After launching 42 home runs in 2018—15 at Double-A, 21 at Triple-A, and six in the Arizona Fall League—and impressing at Mets camp early in 2019, the powerful slugger was added to New York’s Opening Day roster only after furious lobbying from his Spring Training teammates. The campaign was pressure well applied. 

Nicknamed the Polar Bear by his fellow Mets, Alonso experienced a dream rookie season by mashing 53 homers—doubling Darryl Strawberry’s first-year mark, and eclipsing Aaron Judge’s major league record in the Mets’ penultimate game of the season. Additionally, Alonso would win the 2019 Home Run Derby—earning a $1 million prize nearly double his entire yearly salary. (He’d win another million in the next Derby, in 2021.) 

After seven seasons with the Mets, Alonso has already passed Strawberry for the most total homers in franchise history. And while he’s struggled with substandard batting averages, he’s managed to pick it up when runners are on base, which explains his knack for knocking in runs. Over his New York tenure, Alonso has averaged over 100 RBIs per season, and set a Mets season mark with 131 in 2022—the same year he crossed paths with death on his way to Spring Training, surviving a car crash in which he was broadsided and rolled over three times, yet walking away with nothing more than a scratch. 

Alonso has especially been a force in postseason play, blasting five homers over 54 at-bats; this includes four round-trippers in the 2024 playoffs, highlighted by a three-run, come-from-behind jolt in the ninth inning of the winner-take-all NLDS contest at Milwaukee to advance the Mets.