The Curious Case of Donnie Stevenson: Should Fans Care?

by Tim Reilly July 06, 2021

Pete Alonso has caught fire of late. In the last few days, the Pete of old has come through with clutch hit after clutch hit. It's beautiful violence when Pete gets hot at the plate. He's the kind of masher that gets asses in and out of seats.

In what has been a hard-to-describe season, the curious case of "Donnie Stevenson" ranks near the top of the list. It started as Pete being the lovable kid he is and having some fun with the guys in the locker room. One thing led to another and "Diesel" Donnie became the approach-hitting guru when the Mets needed some piss missiles.

This is the Donnie Stevenson vid for anyone wondering pic.twitter.com/uW8ZaLkOAq
— James (NYM 44-37) (@DegromSzn) June 17, 2021

I think we all got a good laugh out of it at first. This whole ordeal came about when a distraction was needed from the offensive woes. If we're being honest, they haven't exactly caught fire since. Nonetheless, the Mets keep winning.

Yeah, he looks like every dude I absolutely despise but who am I to argue with what keeps Alonso happy? I wouldn't be caught dead hanging out with a dude wearing this crop-top un-ironically. But I'll play nice and put on a fake smile if this dude's persona fuels a big second half from Pete.

Pete is going to have Diesel Donnie pitch to him at the HR Derby, isn’t he? pic.twitter.com/daLkKvLh19
— Tim Reilly (@LifeOfTimReilly) July 6, 2021

Diesel Donnie didn't just fade away into the sunset though. The guys frequently can be seen wearing cutoff sleeve Donnie shirts during warmups. Hell, Donnie even made an appearance in a campaign video to get Pete into the All-Star Game. And his latest appearance came Monday night when he was spotted on the M&M Party Deck celebrating after Alonso's clutch 2-RBI double.

I saw a lot of chatter on Twitter last night about fans being over the whole Donnie Diesel ordeal. I'll be honest, I don't know what to make of it. Is it cheesy? Yeah. Is it helping the team improve offensively? Not really. Is it keeping the clubhouse loose? It sure appears that way.

If that's the case, let it be. This is a tightknit group. Tighter than we've seen a Mets team in a long, long time. If Donnie Diesel gives the guys a laugh, let them have their fun. As long as Pete is hitting, he can insert Donnie into as many corny social posts as he wants. I'm all for anything if it keeps Pete in the right mindset and on his way to putting up the power numbers we need.

Remember, you don't *have* to like everything that everyone puts on social media. It's OK to keep scrolling and not add commentary on something. Just go on living your life.

My gut tells me we haven't seen the last of Donnie. With Alonso set to defend his HR Derby title next week, don't be surprised to see Diesel get involved. Who knows what that will look like, but it's an over-the-top ESPN segment waiting to happen. Hell, we might even see a shirtless A-Rod get involved in a Donnie workout routine...

Just keep mashing, Pete.

P.S. If the Mets go on to win the whole thing, does Donnie get a ring? That might cause me to do a 180 on this whole thing...

Hearing a lot of you would be okay with this so long as the Mets win the world series. Sorry but I, a person who is only a fan of a baseball team in hopes of the championship ring aesthetic meeting my expectations, can definitely not relate
— Julia (@jquadddddd) July 6, 2021