Former Mets Star Pete Alonso Off to Poor Start With Orioles

The New York Mets sorely miss his presence in the middle of their lineup, especially his power bat.

However, former star franchise first baseman Pete Alonso has struggled immensely to begin his career with the Baltimore Orioles.

Alonso had a .871 OPS, 38 home runs and 126 RBI while batting behind Juan Soto last season for the Mets.

But in 13 games in Baltimore, Alonso is slashing just .176/.263/.275 with a .538 OPS, one home run and three RBI. Alonso only has nine hits in 51 at-bats as an Oriole so far. The 31-year-old's lone homer of the season came against former Mets ace Jacob deGrom on March 31.

After going 0-for-3 with a walk in the Orioles' 6-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Friday, Alonso is 3-for-32 (.094) in his last eight games.

“Yeah, it stinks, first couple weeks, not performing up to my standards,” Alonso told reporters on Friday, via Jake Rill of MLB.com. “You can work hard, you can try, but that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to win. And I expect more out of myself, and I know other people do as well. So it’s frustrating.”

Although Alonso is still hitting the ball hard (58.8% hard hit rate), the slugger's strikeout rate is 29.8% which is seven percent higher than his career average (22.9%).

As the Orioles' cleanup hitter, Alonso's bat is expected to be a big part of Baltimore's offense in 2026 and beyond. The Orioles have scored a mere 3.7 runs per game and are 6-7 in 13 games this year.

Alonso, who signed a five-year, $155 million deal with the Orioles in free agency this past offseason, did not receive an offer from the Mets before his departure. Alonso made the All-Star team five times as a Met and is their all-time leader in home runs with 264 long balls.

Life After Alonso in New York

The Mets essentially replaced Alonso by signing third baseman Bo Bichette (three-years, $126 million) and first baseman Jorge Polanco (two-years, $40 million). That said, both players have gotten off to slow starts of their own in Queens.

Bichette is slashing .230/.262/.262 with a .524 OPS and six RBI in 14 games. He has yet to hit a homer in a Mets uniform.

Polanco is dealing with an Achilles issue that has limited him to 10 games thus far. He's hitting .200/.289/.275 with a .564 OPS and one RBI. Polanco has mostly been serving as the DH given his early season nagging ailment.

Mark Vientos has seemingly claimed the first base job as of late due to his hot start at the plate. Vientos has Alonso-like power offensively, and is slashing .323/.353/.484 with a .837 OPS, one homer and five RBI in 10 games.

Brett Baty has also seen time at first base.

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