Pete Alonso’s first season in Baltimore has now come with hardware.
The Orioles announced Sept. 23 that their first baseman was voted the 2026 Louis M. Hatter Most Valuable Oriole Award, and he did it unanimously. Local media members who regularly cover the team made the call, and Alonso will be honored on the field before tonight’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
It’s a familiar kind of recognition in franchise history, but a rare one for a first baseman. Alonso is the eighth player at the position to win the award, which has happened 18 times overall.
He joins Jim Gentile, Boog Powell, Lee May, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, Jeff Conine and Chris Davis on that list. He’s also the first unanimous winner since Cedric Mullins in 2021.
The case for Alonso was built on volume, production and durability. He has started all 157 games for Baltimore and is hitting .265/.359/.510 with 156 hits in 588 at-bats, plus 24 doubles, 40 home runs, 94 runs, 108 RBI, 78 walks, 11 hit-by-pitches and five stolen bases. He enters play today leading the American League in RBI, and he also sits third in homers, third in total bases with 300, fifth in slugging percentage, fifth in OPS at .869, sixth in extra-base hits with 64, seventh in hits and eighth in runs.
No Orioles hitter has done more this season. Alonso leads the club in hits, home runs, runs, RBI, total bases and extra-base hits, and his 573 consecutive games played are the second-longest active streak in the majors, trailing only Atlanta’s Matt Olson at 939.
His value has shown up in the advanced numbers, too. The 31-year-old leads the Orioles with 4.6 Baseball Reference Wins Above Replacement and 4.5 Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement, and his 4.5 fWAR ranks first among all MLB first basemen. His 4.6 bWAR is the best by an Orioles first baseman since Chris Davis posted 4.9 in 2015.
Alonso also had a stretch that turned heads around the league. He was named AL Player of the Week for Aug. 10-16 after going 12-for-22 with a .545/.630/.864 slash line, one double, two home runs, five runs, five RBI and four walks across six games. He was the first Oriole to win that honor since Gunnar Henderson on Sept. 7, 2024, and the first Orioles first baseman to do it since Ryan Mountcastle on June 5, 2021.
And the milestones kept piling up. Alonso became the eighth Oriole to homer at least 30 times in his first season with the team, joining Frank Robinson, Mark Trumbo, Nelson Cruz, Mark Reynolds, Albert Belle, Miguel Tejada and J.J.
Hardy. He also joined a select group in MLB history by becoming the fifth player ever to hit 30 or more home runs in at least seven of his first eight seasons, alongside Mark Teixeira, Albert Pujols, Eddie Mathews and Ralph Kiner.
Then came No. 40.
On Sept. 21, Alonso became the ninth Oriole, in 10 total instances, to reach a 40-homer season.
The others on that list are Chris Davis, Brady Anderson, Frank Robinson, Mark Trumbo, Jim Gentile, Anthony Santander, Rafael Palmeiro and Nelson Cruz.
The award itself carries the name of Lou Hatter, the late Baltimore Sun sportswriter who covered the Orioles for 27 years. Balloting wrapped up last week on a 5-3-1 basis, and 10 other players drew second- or third-place votes: Blaze Alexander, Samuel Basallo, Shane Baz, Kyle Bradish, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Rico Garcia, Gunnar Henderson, Coby Mayo, Trevor Rogers and Brandon Young.
In Other News...
Orioles Doubleheader Featured A Baseball First Few Fans Ever Expected
A quirky bit of baseball history unfolded at Camden Yards during the Blue Jays-Orioles doubleheader, when identical twins Austin and Tyler Jones became the first twins to work the same umpiring crew in a Major League Baseball game. The siblings have shared crews before in the minors, but this was their first time doing it on the sports biggest stage, a rare pairing that gave an ordinary April doubleheader a little extra texture.
Their families were there to see it, which made the moment feel even more personal in a setting usually defined by routine calls and fast pacing. For the Jones brothers, it was clearly more than a scheduling oddity, and for everyone in the park, it was the kind of baseball-first detail that tends to stick with you long after the final out. [Read more 🡒]
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Just Gave Orioles Fans More To Say About Toronto
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has made himself a familiar talking point in Baltimore over the years, and his latest comments only give Orioles fans more reason to keep one eye on Toronto. Speaking about his down season, Guerrero said his contract was built on what he had already done, not on a promise about what was still ahead, a reminder of how much weight follows a player with that kind of profile and expectation.
Guerrero did express regret about how this year unfolded, but he stood by the original remark and framed the whole situation as part of the pressure that comes with a major deal. He also said he is continuing to work hard to get better for next season, leaving the Blue Jays star with one more layer of scrutiny as Baltimore keeps tracking every turn in the division race. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Fans Sent A Clear Message Despite One Worry Looming
The Orioles final home game of the season still drew a reminder of how quickly the mood around Camden Yards can shift. A rainout the day before left the stands thinner than usual for the doubleheader opener, but the second game brought back the kind of energy Baltimore fans have shown all year, with the crowd sounding more like a team still in the hunt than one wrapping up the calendar.
Pete Alonso also had the larger picture on his mind, even as the Orioles finished out their home schedule. With the leagues labor deal set to expire in December, there is already some worry about what comes next, though Alonso said he hopes negotiations are resolved without any games being lost, pointing back to the 2022 lockout as a warning sign. Craig Albernaz, meanwhile, noticed the support from the stands and had reason to appreciate it, even with the uncertainty hanging over the sport. [Read more 🡒]