Last month, Pete Alonso and the Baltimore Orioles agreed to a 5-year contract. Without a doubt, Alonso is a star player. He has shown that he can crush baseballs and he’s a 5-time All-Star. Nonetheless, he’s a first baseman. After seeing him ink a 5-year deal. I’m just thinking about one thing.
Over the last several seasons, are there many first basemen who signed a contract with the length of 5 years or more? How have they played after signing the contract?
To solve my doubts about the contract, I chose to take a look at the great sportrac website.
Firstly, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signed a 14-year contract extension with the Blue Jays in April 2025. In 2025, he spent most of his time as 1B. Moreover, Bryce Harper signed a 13-year contract with the Phillies in 2019. Well, Harper was an outfielder when he signed the contract. However, in 2024 and 2025, he spent most of his time as a first baseman. Furthermore, Matt Olson was traded to the Braves in March 2022. Very soon, the Braves and him agreed to an 8-year contract extension.
In addition, Freddie Freeman signed a 6-year contract with the Dodgers in March 2022. And in December 2022, Willson Contreras agreed to a 5-year deal with the Cardinals. When he signed the contract, he was expected to be a catcher. Nevertheless, in 2025, he spent most of his time as first baseman.
Looking at these signings, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit .292/.381/.467 with 23 home runs and 84 RBI in 2025. He finished the season with an OPS over .800. So, his performance was acceptable in 2025. Well, Harper played at 1B more than 100 games in 2024 and 2025. So, let’s look at the stats in these 2 seasons. He hit .285/.373/.525 with 30 home runs and 87 RBI over 145 games in 2024. Last season, he batted .261/.357/.487 with 27 home runs and 75 RBI over 132 games. He finished each season with an OPS over .800. Without a doubt, he’s still a good hitter.
Now, let’s look at Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman. From 2022 to 2025, Olson played 648 games for the Braves, slashing .261/.354/.505 with 146 home runs and 435 RBI. In these 4 seasons, he didn’t miss any games and there’s only one time that he didn’t finish the season with an OPS of .800 or higher. At the same time, Freeman has played 614 games for the Dodgers, slashing .310/.391/.516 with 96 home runs and 381 RBI. Freeman finished each of the last 4 seasons with an OPS over .800.
Finally, Willson Contreras played 135 games for the Cardinals in 2025, hitting .257/.344/.447 with 20 home runs and 80 RBI. Well, his OPS was below .800 last season. But an OPS of .791 isn’t too far away.
Looking at these players who played 100+ games at first base in 2025 and are now on a 5-year contract, basically, a minimum requirement is to hit at least 20 home runs with an OPS of .800 or higher. In 2026, it will be interesting to see Alonso’s first season as an Oriole. Can he blast 30+ home runs as he did in 2025? Also, Josh Naylor signed a 5-year contract with the Mariners last November. He has played a key role in the Mariners lineup after being traded to Seattle. It would be worthwhile to see his full season as a Mariner. Will Naylor finish the 2026 season with an OPS over .800?
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