Entering the 2025 season with a lot of hype, the Orioles ultimately had a disappointing season due to underperformance. While their youth-driven team creates a lot of intrigue, it also leads to high volatility. Signing 1B Pete Alonso to a five-year $155 million deal is very exciting not only because Alonso is a talented hitter, but also because he adds on to an already talented group and directly addresses two major offensive ‘weaknesses’ head on.
Consistent Game Power
One thing I love about the Orioles offense is that there are many players who have serious upside potential due to raw power and success with power in the Minor Leagues. However, inconsistency and underperformance with game power limited the Orioles in the 2025 season. Several players with big power potential contributed to this:
- Jackson Holliday: Hit 17 home runs, but was inconsistent in his season-long performance. This was due to a combination of factors including struggles vs lefties, and trouble elevating the ball consistently. He had some months when he was really hot, and then others when his bat would cool down.
- Gunnar Henderson: Was dealing with an early season injury that may have affected his overall output, specifically his power, which was down compared to 2024. He specifically was having trouble against pitches in the heart this season (not doing as much damage against them). Assuming he is fully healthy in 2026, his power should amp back up.
- Coby Mayo: Showed raw power in the Minor leagues, but it has not yet translated to the Majors due to issues with contact on pitches in-zone and struggling against righties.Â
- Ryan Mountcastle: Was dealing with a hamstring injury that affected his output. He has above average raw power, but the underlying numbers are showing a decline in his raw power year over year. While he’s historically been better against lefties his numbers took a sharp dive in 2025.Â
- Samuel Basallo: Has raw power and was successful in the Minor Leagues but is unproven in the Majors due to limited opportunity this season.
Adding Alonso provides established and consistent middle of the order power. His addition also takes the narrative away from requiring one of these players to breakout in order for the Orioles to do well. There is now less pressure on some of the underperformers of 2025 like Holliday, Mayo, and Basallo.
In short, the Orioles did not lack power, but they lacked an established hitter who can translate power to games regardless of situation, pitch type, and matchup.
Ability to Hit All Pitch Types
Due to how early on many of the Orioles’ players are in their careers, several of them struggle to make meaningful contact against non-fastballs. This is a common weakness for players early on in their careers, and it so happens that many of the Orioles’ hitters are going through this at the same time. This leads to an uptick in breaking and off-speed pitches seen, and more swing and miss from the group as a whole. The Orioles finished the season with the third highest strikeout rate in baseball, at 24%,
Here are some of the Orioles’ hitters results against breaking and offspeed pitches in 2025:
| 2025 | xSLG (Breaking / Off-speed) | Whiff (Breaking / Off-speed) |
| Adley Rutschman | .340 / .328 | 21% / 17% |
| Jordan Westburg (Small Sample – Injury) | .560 / .253 | 38% / 40% |
| Colton Cowser | .283 / .240 | 48% / 45% |
| Coby Mayo | .250 / .533 | 44% / 42% |
| Dylan Beavers (Very Small Sample – Debut) | .182 / .279 | 37% / 33% |
Alonso is able to do damage against all pitch types while maintaining an average ability to make contact in the zone and limit strikeouts. He also changes how pitchers will manage counts. In 2025, we saw many Orioles hitters getting attacked with non-fastballs in all counts. Alonso is already comfortable both when ahead and behind in the count, limiting the margin for error in sequencing and command.
This also ties into the idea of lineup protection. Having Alonso in the lineup may prevent pitchers from just worrying about getting through Henderson, Westburg, and Rutschman. What we might see now is pitchers slightly changing their attack vs these three core hitters. While this doesn’t guarantee better results, it may lead to them getting an extra opportunity to get a pitch they can easily do damage on. Even one more pitch mid at-bat in the zone to these three capable hitters can go a long way.
Concluding Thoughts
Adding Alonso to the Orioles’ lineup not only raises the floor, but also adds reliable power. There is less pressure for the younger players to be the team’s source of power right away. They can instead focus on continuing their development in terms of hitting all pitch types and improving zone contact.
Not mentioned is that the Orioles also added Taylor Ward this off-season. While he is not the same caliber as Alonso, he is another established righty with power that can help alleviate pressure while contributing to a strong offensive core.
Both of these moves are preparing the Orioles to have one of the best offenses in baseball in 2026.