Former Orioles reliever Brad Brach wasn’t with the New York Mets for long in 2019 before he got to see what first baseman Pete Alonso was capable of.
Alonso, in the midst of a National League Rookie of the Year campaign, hit his 50th home run of the season in Cincinnati, where Brach watched in amazement from the bullpen. Alonso, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound slugger out of the University of Florida, took a 96 mph fastball down and away 437 feet to the “PNC Power Stacks” beyond the right-center field seats.
“You go back and you watch the replay, you’re like, ‘Did he really hit that ball, first of all as far as he hit it, and was that pitch as good as I thought it was?'” Brach recalled. “That’s what Pete Alonso does. He hits pitches that are not supposed to be hit for home runs and he hits them a long way.”
Orioles fans are hoping to see plenty of home runs like that for the next five years. Following an underwhelming 2025 season in which the club finished 24th in scoring (4.18 runs per game), the Orioles entered the offseason in search of a middle-of-the-order hitter. The Orioles found their answer at the winter meetings in Orlando in December, when they inked Alonso to a five-year, $155 million deal.
More than a few with Orioles ties worked alongside Alonso in New York during his seven-year stint with the Mets. Former Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who managed Alonso in New York in 2022 and 2023, knows as well as anyone what type of player resonates in Charm City.
“He will get Baltimore … and Baltimore will get Pete,” Showalter said on Glenn Clark Radio Dec. 12. “Pete’s not one of those guys who ever comes in moody — ‘Hey, what’s wrong with Pete today? He’s got his dauber down.’ Pete’s the same guy every day. He doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s very giving of his time, he’s a pleaser, and he’s country strong. That’s why he’s been able to stay on the field.”
Former Orioles reliever Tommy Hunter, who pitched for the Mets from 2021-2023, echoed those sentiments.
“The guy comes to the field, he plays, he hits absolute bombs all the time, he brings it every day and that’s what Baltimore needs,” Hunter said. “Baltimore fans need the real people. That’s what it was back in the day. … It’s hard to relate to baseball players, but certain baseball players can relate with the fans better than others, and Pete’s one of those guys. He’s a down-to-earth guy, wears his boots to the field, puts jeans on and let’s go. That’s what these cities like, what these cities embrace.”
Orioles fans will especially embrace Alonso if he keeps producing like he has for his entire career. The 31-year-old will enter the season with 264 home runs and a well-earned reputation for posting up; Alonso has missed a total of 24 games as a big leaguer. He leaves New York as the Mets’ all-time-leading home run hitter, proving to be a wildly successful second-round pick in 2016. He put together a standard-issue Alonso season in 2025, hitting .272/.347/.524 with 80 extra-base hits.
Alonso is joining an Orioles lineup that needed some thump entering the offseason. Though the Orioles were 11th in the major leagues in home runs, the club traded away Ramón Laureano, Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn ahead of the trade deadline last season. That left Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg, all of whom hit 17 homers in 2025, as the leading returning home run hitters.
The Orioles also had an acute need for right-handed power. Entering the offseason, the only returning right-handed batter who hit double-digit home runs for the Orioles a year ago was Westburg. So the club kicked off its offseason by dealing pitcher Grayson Rodriguez to the Los Angeles Angels for Taylor Ward, a right-handed-hitting outfielder who swatted 36 home runs in 2025. And then the team signed Alonso.
“Pete doesn’t just hit home runs. He hits a lot of them, but his home runs are different,” Hunter said. “These are line drives that are just going over the fence. These aren’t uppercut moon shots. You’ll see, I promise.”
Even if the left-field wall at Camden Yards had remained where it was from 2022-2024, Alonso would still hit for plenty of over-the-fence power, according to Showalter.
“It doesn’t matter where they put the fences for Pete,” he said. “They can put them back where Yellowstone is, OK? When Pete collides with a ball, it goes where you can’t catch it.”
Brach explained that power is a must in the American League East given how other teams in the division can mash. Pitching staffs won’t be able to completely shut down division rivals, so hitters need to be able to keep up to some extent.
“It’s definitely a hitter’s [division], I think everybody knows that, and it’s been like that forever,” Brach said. “You’ve got to be able to put runs up on the board, and it’s tough to come by hits because there are so many power arms in the league. I think when you get guys who can hit the ball over the fence, it just changes everything.”
(Courtesy of Tommy Hunter)
Hunter and Showalter also said the Orioles are adding a quality human being to the clubhouse. Hunter explained that his oldest son Henry, now 10, plays first base, wears Alonso’s No. 20 and still receives videos about hitting from Alonso after working with him when Hunter was on the Mets.
Hunter’s son Oliver, now 8, gravitated toward Francisco Lindor.
“It’s crazy how they veered toward the players that they’re going to hopefully emulate and be like as they grow up,” Hunter said. “Having Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso in your locker room, I couldn’t think of two better guys to emulate your game [after], let alone the good humans that they are.”
Orioles manager Craig Albernaz might have a new friend, too.
“Some of my funnest times with him would be when he’d plop down in my office about 2:30 and go, ‘What’s going on? Let’s go. Let’s talk.’ We’d talk about life,” Showalter said.
The Orioles are looking to get back on track in 2026 following a 75-win season and experience postseason success for the first time since 2014, when Brach, Hunter and Showalter were around. Hunter said Alonso is a throwback to former Orioles like Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, who led by posting up every day.
“Posting in lineups was a big thing back when we were all together in Baltimore. That’s what guys did. They posted, and that’s what Pete does,” Hunter said. “If you bring that back, it shows these kids, ‘Hey look, these are superstars doing this every day, so you need to get it together. Let’s go out and let’s post and let’s run this thing.’ Pete’s a very special talent.”
Photo Credits: Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles and Tommy Hunter