A couple of weeks ago, the Orioles officially introduced Pete Alonso, who just inked a long-term deal with the team. Alonso is surely one of the top free agents this offseason. While seeing his decision to sign with the Orioles, I’m just thinking if he would instantly make an impact on the team.
To solve my doubt, I decided to check on the great baseball reference website.
Firstly, let’s look at Alonso’s performance against the AL East opponents. Against the Yankees and the Red Sox, Alonso each has an OPS over .800. He has blasted 11 home runs in 32 games against the Yankees. Against the Red Sox, Alonso smashed 4 home runs in 17 games.
Moreover, Alonso crushed 5 home runs and collected 11 RBI against the Rays and Blue Jays each. He has played 15 games against the Blue Jays with a .200 batting average and a .758 OPS. Nonetheless, against the Rays, Alonso’s batting average is below .200.
In addition, Pete Alonso played 162 games for the Mets, slashing .272/.347/.524 with 38 home runs and 126 RBI. Alonso did play well in 2025 with an OPS over .800. When we look at the Orioles lineup in 2025, only Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday played 100+ games. Gunnar Henderson slashed .274/.349/.438 with 17 home runs and 68 RBI. At the same time, Holliday hit .242/.314/.375 with 17 home runs and 55 RBI.
Taking a closer look, who are the home run leaders in the Orioles lineup this year? They are Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg, which means that no players in the Orioles lineup reached 20 home runs in 2025. Furthermore, looking at the RBI leader, Gunnar Henderson led the Orioles with 68 RBI. Also, when we look at the leader in hits, Gunnar Henderson is the only one with at least 150 hits. Hence, it’s quite clear that in 2025, Alonso, who had 170 hits in 2025, did hit much better than any hitters in the Orioles did.
Finally, so far in his career, Alonso slashes .263/.302/.737 with 5 home runs and 11 RBI in 10 games at Camden Yards. It seems that he’s comfortable hitting at his new home.
The Orioles finished the 2025 season with only 75 wins and were 5th in the AL East. They didn’t clinch a berth in the playoffs. The front office of the Orioles certainly knows the problem and wants to make the team better. With the signing of Alonso, the Orioles surely upgrade the lineup. Of course, Alonso has to stay healthy. And here comes an interesting thing. In 2019, he played 161 games. The 2020 season was a shortened one, Alonso played 57 out of 60 games. From 2021 to 2025, he never finished a season playing fewer than 152 games. Thus, he didn’t miss much playing time. It would be an important thing for the Orioles. Additionally, one more thing, looking at the Orioles franchise history, Chris Davis blasted 53 home runs for the Orioles in 2013. In 1996, Brady Anderson crushed 50 home runs. Only 2 players used to hit 50+ home runs in the Orioles uniform, will Alonso be the next one?
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