New York Mets fans react to Pete Alonso hitting a home run after sprinting to dugout to get ready for his at-bat: "He's been preparing for this"

It looks like New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso has been preparing for the new rule changes during the offseason. In Saturday's Spring Training game, Alonso was set to lead off the second inning. After the final out was made at the top of the inning, Alonso sprinted to the dugout.

He wanted to give himself enough time to prepare with MLB's new pitch clock rule. While you'd think he'd be dead tired at the plate, he wasn't. He crushed an absolute bomb off Braxton Garrett.

Alonso left no doubt that he was ready for his at-bat. Baseball fans have already seen the pitch clock interfere in games. It ended a Spring Training game on Saturday and a college baseball game on Friday night.

This season, pitchers will have 15 seconds to throw a pitch with no runners on base and 20 seconds with runners on base. Batters must be in the box and ready to go by the eight-second mark. Violations will result in an automatic ball or strike, depending on who the infraction is on.

If this is the type of year Pete Alonso will have, then the rest of the league may be in trouble. He'll be an integral part of the Mets' success during this season.

Can the New York Mets capitalize on the momentum they created last year?

Last year, the New York Mets had the best season since 1986. They finished the regular season with a 101-61 record. Usually, that's good enough to win any division in baseball, but not the National League East. The Atlanta Braves won the division despite finishing with the same record as the Mets as they held the tie-breaker.

The Mets were on a mission this offseason to upgrade their roster and become even better. They signed Justin Verlander to complement Max Scherzer. It could be argued that Verlander and Scherzer are two of the best pitchers in the league.

It didn't stop with Verlander, as the team made many moves this offseason to bolster their pitching staff. They signed Kodai Senga, David Robertson, and Adam Ottavino.

It looks like it will be tough for opposing hitters to score runs at the Big Apple.

About the author

Jared "Bloomy" Bloom is a journalist covering Major League Baseball at Sportskeeda and a former college baseball pitcher from Illinois, who just graduated with a Master's degree in Sport Psychology.

A writer with over 3 years of experience, Jared is consistently more concerned with quality than quantity, thoroughly checking multiple sources of information, and prides himself in being knowledgeable not just about MLB, but the game of baseball in general. He loves breaking down plays and game-changing moments, as well as looking closer into players' statistics.

Jared is a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan, and one of his earliest memories is seeing his great-grandfather, a huge Sox fan, in his rocking chair watching a game. Jared started playing from the age of 5 with his grandfather coaching him early on.

Jared loved Tim Lincecum for his quirky delivery and looked up to him as a role model when playing. His current favorite is Phillies star Bryce Harper, an exciting player who doesn't let injuries hold him back. Jared's favorite sports moment is Mark Buehrle's opening day between-the-legs glove flip to first base in 2010.

When he is not watching or writing about baseball, Jared can be found racing BMX at his local Rockford BMX track or coaching his local youth travel baseball team.

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