Orioles need Pete Alonso to fix 14 home run issue from 2025 first baseman

The Baltimore Orioles are coming into the 2026 season with a lot of newfound hope for a postseason berth thanks to a busy offseason.

While there were plenty of interesting moves, the free-agent signing of Pete Alonso was the biggest. He should vastly improve the offense in 2026, as he's been one of the best power-hitters in the Majors since his 2019 debut.

Alonso will have a very simple task ahead of him this season. ESPN's Bradford Doolittle pointed out how Alonso needs to fix a 14-home run issue from the 2025 Orioles' first basemen. It's a simple goal, one that he should easily hit in 2026.

Pete Alonso has 14-HR goal in 2026

"Pivotal number: 14. That's how many home runs the Orioles got from first basemen in 2025, the lowest figure in the major leagues," Doolittle writes. "With Pete Alonso on board, it's reasonable to imagine that number increasing threefold in 2026. Obviously, the higher it goes, the better off the Orioles' offense will be."

This goal for Alosno is a very simple one for the former Mets slugger to reach. Alonso has played in mostly every game of each season he's played, with the lowest game-count (not 2020) being 152 in 2021.

Every season, including his 57-game 2020 season, Alonso has hit at least 14 home runs. If Alonso can stay healthy all season, there's very little worry he won't be able to hit 14 home runs, beating out the entire Orioles first-base room from 2025.

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Last year, Ryan Mountcastle, Ryan O'Hearn, Emmanuel Rivera, Coby Mayo, and Samuel Basallo got some run at first base. When playing first base for the Orioles, those five hitters only totaled 14 home runs all year.

That mark was the worst in the league and is clearly an issue. One of the more prominent power-hitting positions recorded only 14 home runs.

That wasn't just the worst among all first basemen in MLB, but the worst home-run-hitting position on the Orioles entire roster.

Baltimore desperately needs Alonso to hit better than that this upcoming season, and barring a massive fall-off in one year for Alonso, he should easily be able to clear the 14-homer mark in 2026.

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