Inner Half

In perhaps the most shocking storyline of the MLB free agency period thus far, former Mets 1B Pete Alonso signed with the Baltimore Orioles on a 5-year/$155M contract. After missing out on a lucrative deal last year, Pete proved why he should’ve been locked up long-term last winter.

Why did Baltimore feel comfortable doing this?

The debate with Alonso was whether he is worth a long-term commitment, and a lot of teams weren’t comfortable with the prospect of that. The opinion on a long-term commitment to Alonso may change with every person you ask, but right now, there can be no doubt that he is one of the premier sluggers of the game.

Since his rookie season in 2019, Alonso has hit 264 home runs and 183 doubles, driving in 712 RBIs. That’s the 3rd-most HR, 27th-most doubles and the most RBI in baseball since that season. He’s also hovered around 22-23% K% (strikeout rate) and 8-10% BB%. For a guy that hits the ball like Pete does, those rates are more than acceptable. In fact, they’re great. 

Perhaps the most important stat from the past 7 seasons? He’s played the most games of anyone in baseball. 1008 of them. 17 more than the next guy. They say the best ability is availability…

Baltimore is betting on Pete to remain who he’s always been: a guy who produces runs.

Pete’s one of the most productive hitters in the game, coming off a year where he put up a 141 wRC+ (career 132 wRC+), meaning last season his .368 wOBA was 41% above average in producing runs for his team. He produces thanks to his raw strength. Baseball Savant has him in the 91st percentile of bat speed, 97th percentile in average exit velocity and 96th percentile in hard-hit rate. 

He’s not a great defensive first baseman (Baseball Savant is not high on him with their defensive metrics), but he plays hard and, perhaps I’m showing my bias as a Mets fan, but I thought he had improved heartily with his defense.

Baltimore should feel comfortable with this commitment because they just acquired a guy who will contribute greatly to their scoring runs, which in the end is the single biggest goal in baseball.

How does this change Baltimore’s offense and the team’s direction?

After a few winning seasons and playoff appearances for the young Orioles, 2025 was a major disappointment to say the least. A lot of that fell on the bats.

As a team, the O’s ranked 20th in wRC+ and 18th in OPS+, both of which were 96, indicating they were 4% below league average. Just a year ago in 2024, they were 4th in wRC+ (114) and 2nd in OPS+ (115).

In 2025, star SS Gunnar Henderson posted the lowest slugging percentage of his career (.438), C Adley Rutschman ran into a couple injuries that kept him out 2 months of the season, young 2B Jackson Holliday hasn’t found his groove at the dish quite yet, and a bevy of young, talented bats are still fighting for lineup cracks. Meanwhile, two of the three highest-WAR players on the team, Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn, were traded to the San Diego Padres at the trading deadline. All this taken into context, Pete Alonso slotting in at first base provides a much-needed spark for a team that had World Series aspirations just a season ago.

On paper, the Orioles’ lineup starts to look refreshed. Assuming Gunnar Henderson regains some of that lost power, a lineup featuring Henderson, Alonso, and newly-acquired guy LF Taylor Ward provides a tantalizing trio of power bats that can produce runs. 

The O’s will hope Adley Rutschman (career .254/.344/.412 hitter) bounces back to form at the plate, 2022 first overall pick Jackson Holliday (.229/.300/.360) breaks out offensively, and 3B Jordan Westburg (.264/.312/.456) stays healthy for a full season. Outside of those names, it’s somewhat of a wild card.

FanGraphs’ RosterResource currently has Dylan Beavers in RF, Colton Cowser in CF and young, recently-extended Sammy Basallo at DH. Beavers, another 2022 first round pick of the Orioles, debuted this past season at both corner outfield spots to a solid 125 wRC+. Cowser, the Orioles’ 2021 first round pick, put up a 119 wRC+ in his first full season in 2024, but suffered through an injury-plagued 2025, seeing lackluster results (83 wRC+) in the 92 games he did play. Cowser managed 3.8 fWAR in 2024 after seeing positive offensive play as well as great outfield defense. Basallo debuted this past season to some horrendous offensive output, seeing most of his team filling in for Rutschman behind the dish.

What the Pete Alonso signing signals for Baltimore is that the DH position and corner outfield spots are for the taking. Taylor Ward is in LF, but he’s going into free agency after this season, and if he puts together another 30+ HR campaign, the Orioles will have to commit a lot of money to him. They will certainly be heavily evaluating their young talent coming through the ranks like not only Beavers and Cowser, but also IF/OF Jeremiah Jackson, IF Coby Mayo, and OF Heston Kjerstad. 

It’s entirely possible that signing Alonso will also spell the end to some of these players’ tenures in the Orioles organization, as they’ve been rumored to be in the market for acquiring starting pitching via trade. Young, controllable bats will be highly valued by teams for a potential return.

Committing to Alonso shows that Baltimore is not satisfied. They are making and will continue to make moves that allow them to compete in 2026 and beyond. The move hints at the Orioles bringing in pitching with the surplus of young, controllable bats. Expect a lot of platoon moves in the lineups (lefties facing right-handers, and vice versa) so that they can get the best evaluations of their numbers going forward.