It only took two Orioles spring training games for fans to see Pete Alonso's impact

Pete Alonso is not a mysterious player. Even for fans who don't watch much NL East baseball, if they mosey on over to his Baseball Reference page, it's easy to see what kind of player he is. He shows up every day, and he hits home runs. After hitting two homers in his first two spring training games, Alonso is showing Orioles fans they can expect more of the same from him for the next five years.

Looking back at the Orioles' disappointing 2025 season, one of the things that stands out as strange is that not a single player managed to hit more than 20 homers. Jackson Holliday, Gunnar Henderson, and Jordan Westburg all tied for the team lead at 17. That's not good. For context, Pete Alonso hit more than double that amount. The Yankees had EIGHT players hit more than 17 homers, and Cal Raleigh's homer total in 2025 was 17 x 3 + 9.

Alonso is going to bring much-needed stability to the middle of the Orioles lineup, which so drastically underwhelmed in 2025. He'll also be productive even if the ball doesn't go over the fence. He also hits for a decent average, and last year he led the league in doubles.

Alonso brings bankable power production, but his leadership could be the biggest difference for the Orioles in 2026

Perhaps just as important as the home run power that Alonso provides is his veteran presence. Even though some of the members of this Orioles core have been in the league for 3-4 seasons now, they are still a really young team. Last year, towards the end of the season, both Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg publicly talked about how the team needed some veteran leadership.

It's not just years of service time that make it so Pete Alonso can easily slide in as the leader of the clubhouse; it's his personality. Besides just being young, most of the Orioles' core are naturally more soft-spoken or just quiet. Jordan Westburg said something along those lines to Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner towards the end of last season. The quote reads:

“I do think it would be good to have a personality going forward, whatever adjective you want to use: polarizing, loud, boisterous, whatever... The important part is bringing in somebody who had that personality, and we’re not forcing them, like, ‘Hey, we need you to be loud..."

It's an interesting quote. The part that stands out is where Westburg talks about the need for someone to be loud and that being loud should be a natural, unforced part of their personality. That's where Alonso is a good fit. There are already numerous videos put out by the team, as well as videos captured individually by reporters, in which Pete Alonso can be heard loud and clear, encouraging his teammates as they take live BP.

Just the other day, Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun got a video of Alonso sitting on the top step of the dugout talking to non-roster invitee Jose Barrero before his at-bat. There's no clear audio, but Alonso was clearly talking about hitting and pointing out something the pitcher was doing. Barrero went up to the plate and hit a double. That' what the Orioles needed last year.

It stands out how sincere that interaction is. The game wasn't being televised, so it's not like Alonso was trying to clip farm to get on MLB Tonight. Barrero is not likely to make the team or play for the Orioles at all in 2026, so it's not like Alonso is trying to ingratiate himself with an important voice on the team. It's just something he naturally wanted to do. As Jordan Westburg said months ago, it's important that the role of a vocal clubhouse leader comes naturally to the person filling that role.

From a personality standpoint, Alonso is exactly what the Orioles needed. Over the course of the 2026 season, observant Orioles fans will notice him talking in the dugout with young players like Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers. He'll probably be integral in deciding what this season's home run celebration will be, and also, he'll hit a bunch of homers as well.