Last Updated on January 22, 2024 by Matt Musico
If you’ve ever wondered who the Mets single season HR leaders are at each position, then you’re in the right place. Outside of pitcher and designated hitter, each player had to man their position for at least 100 games (or 75% of games played) for the season in question.
After you’re done checking this out, head over to the Mets’ all-time and single-season home run leaderboards.
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Mets Single Season HR Leaders
Catcher: Todd Hundley, 41 Home Runs in 1996
What, you thought Mike Piazza would be here? He almost was — the Hall of Fame slugger hit 40 in 1999, but that was the closest he got. Todd Hundley held at least a share of the Mets’ single-season home run record until Pete Alonso broke it in 2019. More on him later.
Hundley did have three seasons of double-digit homers before this 41-dinger performance. But still, he had slugged just 50 across six seasons (491 games) heading into 1996. The backstop had at least eight homers and 20 RBI in four different months, which also included an OPS of .933 or better.
Pitcher: Three-Way Tie at 3 Home Runs
Tom Seaver (1972), Walt Terrell (1983), and Noah Syndergaard (2016) will forever be deadlocked at the top of the Mets’ single-season pitcher home run leaderboard.
Seaver went 21-12 with a 2.92 ERA on the mound in ’72, finishing fifth in Cy Young voting. Terrell went 8-8 with a 3.57 ERA in ’83. The three homers he hit were his only big leaguer. The 2016 campaign was Syndergaard’s best to date. He went 14-9 with a 2.60 ERA, finished eighth in Cy Young voting, and was also selected to the All-Star Game. Thor hit a total of six homers for New York in his career.
First Base: Pete Alonso, 53 Home Runs in 2019
It didn’t take Pete Alonso long to etch his name in franchise record books thanks to his ability to hit home runs. He’s already within the top five all-time in Mets history, and we’re now on the edge of our seats with each homer that gets slugged.
Pete hit 30 before the All-Star break, which is among the most first-half dingers in MLB history. He then proceeded to win his first Home Run Derby before coming back and becoming the league’s rookie home run king. His 120 RBI are among the most in franchise history for a single season.
The Phillies were the only NL East team he didn’t hit at least seven homers against (he slugged three). Alonso’s eight dingers against the Miami Marlins were his most among divisional foes, but the first baseman loved facing the Braves. Across 86 plate appearances, he slashed .329/.430/.685 with seven home runs and 20 RBI.
Second Base: Edgardo Alfonzo, 27 Home Runs in 1999
The 1999 season began a two-year stretch that was the best in Edgardo Alfonzo‘s career. It included consecutive years of at least a .300 average, 25 homers, 90 RBI, and a top-15 finish in NL MVP voting. His higher finish in MVP voting came in ’99 when he placed eighth. Alfonzo also won his only Silver Slugger Award during that campaign.
If we split his performance during games into three parts, Alfonzo was incredibly consistent. His OPS was never lower than .855 or higher than .895 between innings 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9. When it came to power, though, he liked getting off to a fast start. Nine of Alfonzo’s 27 homers came in the first inning. He didn’t hit more than five in any other inning.
Shortstop: Francisco Lindor, 31 Home Runs in 2023
Francisco Lindor hit the trifecta for Mets single-season shortstop records regarding home runs (26), RBI (107), and fWAR (6.8) in 2022. It just took him one year to break his own home run record. He made it count by being just the fourth player in Mets history to register a 30-30 season, as well.
Lindor is a switch-hitter, and he really took advantage of his limited opportunities as a right-handed hitter. In just 204 plate appearances against southpaws, the shortstop slugged 16 homers. The other 15 came in 483 plate appearances as a left-handed hitter.
He also turned up the production after the season’s first two months. Entering June, Lindor had 10 homers and four steals before slugging 21 dingers and swiping 27 bags over the final four months.
Third Base: Howard Johnson, 38 Home Runs in 1991
Before David Wright set the standard for Mets third baseman, there was Howard Johnson. His 38 home runs and 117 RBI both led the league in 1991. This was also his second career 30-30 season with New York. Just like his first one (in 1989), HoJo went to the All-Star Game, won a Silver Slugger Award, and placed fifth in NL MVP voting.
His numbers between the first half (19 homers, 16 doubles, 63 RBI, 14 steals) were quite similar to what he did in the second half (19 homers, 18 doubles, 54 RBI, 16 steals). That was made possible by an outrageous last month of the year. Over his final 143 trips to the plate, he posted a .990 OPS with 10 homers, 10 doubles, 31 RBI, and 11 steals.
Mets Single Season HR Leaders
Left Field: Frank Thomas (1962) & Cliff Floyd (2005), 34 Home Runs
Many will point to Dave Kingman‘s 36 homers in 1975 here, but he just didn’t play left field enough. He was on that part of the diamond for only about half his games played. So, we’ve got a good old-fashioned tie between Frank Thomas and Cliff Floyd.
Those 34 homers for Thomas ended up being a single-season career-high mark. It was also the first time he reached the 30-homer plateau since 1953. He slugged 20 of these homers over the final three months, including 10 in August.
Cliff Floyd spent four years with the Mets. In three of those years, he combined to hit 47 homers. And in one of them — yup, you guessed it, in 2005 — he hit 34. The left-handed slugger very much enjoyed hitting at Shea Stadium that year, as 21 came in front of the Flushing Faithful.
Floyd was consistent regardless of the number of outs in an inning, but he particularly liked hitting with two down. He posted a .829 OPS with 13 homers and 44 RBI in that situation.
Center Field: Carlos Beltran, 41 Home Runs in 2006
Carlos Beltran was the guy Hundley shared the franchise’s single-season home run record with until Alonso came along. This was the start of a three-year stretch where Beltran slugged at least 27 homers with 112-plus RBI for New York. Nothing topped what he did in ’06, though.
It didn’t matter whether the Mets were winning or losing — Beltran’s performance was just about identical. When New York held a lead, he hit .283/.396/.626 with 16 homers and 52 RBI. If he stepped to the plate with the Mets losing, he slashed .286/.402/.674 with another 16 homers and 35 RBI.
Right Field: Darryl Strawberry, 39 Home Runs in 1987 & 1988
Before Alonso came along, Darryl Strawberry was the poster child for homegrown power hitters in Queens. Once he left New York via free agency for Los Angeles, he held franchise records for rookie home runs in a season, most overall home runs in a season, and all-time homers. He’s still atop the all-time list, but probably not for long if Alonso has anything to say about it.
Straw’s ’87 and ’88 seasons were the only two times he slugged at least 30 dingers with 100-plus RBI in a season for the Mets. He enjoyed a double-digit homer month just once other this span. It came in May 1987 when he hit 10. However, Strawberry hit at least eight homers in a month five other times (August and September 1987, as well as June, July, and September 1988).
Designated Hitter: Daniel Vogelbach, 13 Home Runs in 2023
https://youtu.be/Rt82QKsQh54?t=144
Daniel Vogelbach didn’t have the best year in Queens, but since the Universal Designated Hitter rule is still young, it was a record-breaking campaign for him. He slugged six dingers for the Mets in 2022 after getting acquired at the trade deadline. He more than doubled that in a full season’s worth of plate appearances with New York.
In addition to those dingers, he collected 45 RBI, 33 runs scored, a 113 wRC+, and 0.2 fWAR to go along with a .235/.345/.414 line.
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