Pete Alonso opened up about his struggles with “pretty bad PTSD” from his car accident in a Players’ Tribune post on Wednesday, and that led Tiki Barber to wonder if the lingering mental effects of the crash could be impacting the All-Star on the field.
“Pete Alonso, who for a minute was potentially an MVP candidate in the national League, has not been having a great July,” Tiki said during Thursday’s show. “I’m not gonna blame it on this PTSD, but it’s clearly something he’s been thinking about.”
The accident, which resulted in Alonso’s car flipping over, occurred during spring training, didn’t leave Alonso with much physical harm, but he opened up about the lingering mental effects in his essay, and while it didn’t seem to hamper his play early in the season, PTSD could surface well after the incident. In his last 14 games, Alonso is batting .200 with a .563 OPS, and Tiki can’t help but be a little concerned that his accident could be playing a part in that downtick.
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“His car…flipped over three times. They described this as an experience that was really close to death,” Tiki said. “We all think we’re invincible when we’re young, especially when we’re strong athletes, but for something like that to happen and to walk away from it without much damage to your body, you think you can move forward, but really, it’s the damage to your mind.
“I just worry about Pete’s psyche a little bit. Baseball is cyclical, he could come out of this back end of July out of the All-Star break and be fine…but it just highlights the need for another bat.”
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