Pete Alonso arrived in Baltimore as more than a big bat, and the Orioles made that clear from the start.
They wanted the production, sure. But they also wanted the voice, the example and the daily presence that could steady a clubhouse with high expectations. Alonso understood the assignment immediately, and the way he described it, the trust from the organization mattered just as much as the contract.
“There’s a lot of comfort and peace of mind in that, where it’s like, ‘Hey, we believe in you, not just from a player’s side, but what you bring as a personality and teammate,'” Alonso said.
A year later, the results around him were far from what Baltimore hoped. The Orioles finished 79-82 and missed the playoffs for the second straight season, a clear underachieving group by Alonso’s own assessment.
“What we put out there wasn’t good enough,” Alonso said. “The amount of talent in the room is off the charts, but the performance was lackluster for us over the course of time.”
Alonso, though, held up his end. He started all 161 of Baltimore’s games in 2026 and hit .267/.363/.522. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound first baseman led the American League with 43 home runs and 113 RBIs, becoming the first player in major league history to win an RBI title in both leagues after also claiming the NL RBI crown with the Mets in 2022.
And even that stat line only tells part of the story.
For a team that never found much rhythm, Alonso was one of the few constants. His impact stretched beyond the box score and into the daily work of the clubhouse, where younger players leaned on him for help.
“To represent this organization, this city every day … I take an immense amount of pride in that,” Alonso said.
That was visible throughout the season. Alonso spent plenty of time talking hitting with younger teammates, walking through opposing pitchers and helping players sort through mechanical tweaks. He was the guy in the cage, the guy in the dugout, the guy offering perspective when others needed it.
In August, during a batting-practice session, Alonso even took a left-handed stance to show shortstop Gunnar Henderson a point about making contact. Later that night, after Alonso launched his 30th home run, he was back in the clubhouse discussing hitting with third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand.
Teammates noticed. So did the players around him who were trying to grow into bigger roles.
“This is the first year when I’ve felt that presence, that leadership presence,” Mayo said. “He’s been great.
We haven’t had a guy come into that type of role, making the biggest contract in our history. So it’s definitely a higher level of respect for Pete.”
Coby Mayo and Jeremiah Jackson were among the Orioles who said Alonso helped them take real steps in how they prepared at the plate. Alonso, who has spent years studying how pitchers attack him, wanted to pass along that kind of thinking without turning anyone into a clone.
His point was simpler than that: know the game better, and you give yourself a better chance.
“If you can have a good understanding of all the variables and how they’re trying to attack you, then that can lead to a lot of success,” Alonso said. “Sharing that information is good, and I hope people take to it and use it in their own way.”
His influence mattered in tougher moments, too.
When the Orioles traded catcher Adley Rutschman to the division rival Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline, the clubhouse took a hit. Rutschman had been a face of the franchise and a central part of Baltimore’s rise from 2022-2024, and his departure clearly weighed on a team already spiraling.
Alonso addressed the group after the deal, making sure the players left behind understood both what Rutschman had meant and what still needed to be done.
The job, in Alonso’s view, was not to pretend the loss didn’t matter. It was to keep the room from losing its direction along with one of its key anchors.
That approach fits the way he sees leadership. He is not trying to hand teammates a finished answer. He wants them to build their own.
“What that entails is just being the best you can on the field, between the lines, and the best teammate you can be every single day,” Alonso said.
He also made a point of being the same person no matter how the night went, which mattered in a season that bounced around on a regular basis. For younger players, that steadiness became part of the example.
“Pete was brought in to be Pete Alonso,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said.
Even as Alonso spent much of the year helping others, he never lost sight of what Baltimore still needs. Albernaz and president of baseball operations Mike Elias said at the end-of-season news conference that the Orioles’ path forward is about getting more out of the group already in place, not tearing things down and starting over.
Alonso sees the same thing, but he also knows the next step requires honesty about the season that just ended.
“We will be better, and I’ll be hell-bent on reflecting and providing input,” Alonso said.
That much is already clear. Alonso didn’t come to Baltimore just to hit in the middle of the order. After one season in the organization, he sounds ready to make sure the lessons from a disappointing year actually carry somewhere useful.
“We’re not where we want to be, but I want to win in the worst way,” Alonso said. “Regardless of the results this year, I feel like that takes some time to reflect [on].
We’ll be better next year. I’ll be sure of that.”
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