Frustrated by slow start to O's career, Alonso vows to be better soon

BALTIMORE -- Through the first 13 games of his Orioles career, Pete Alonso hasn’t quite been himself. He’s not slugging home runs from the heart of the order. He’s not hitting well enough. The Polar Bear isn’t showing the level of production that landed him a five-year, $155 million contract from Baltimore over the offseason.

Alonso is aware his play isn’t meeting the lofty expectations set by everyone -- himself, the team and the fans, who aren’t seeing the guy they were so excited to watch. The 31-year-old isn’t hiding from it, and he isn’t making excuses.

“Yeah, it stinks, first couple weeks, not performing up to my standards,” Alonso said after going 0-for-3 with a walk in the O’s series-opening 6-3 loss to the Giants at Camden Yards on Friday. “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.”

Another tough night for Alonso lowered his average to .176 and his OPS to .538. His lone home run came March 31, when he took former Mets teammate Jacob deGrom deep in the Orioles’ 8-5 loss to the Rangers.

Since knocking a single in a series-closing 8-3 win over Texas on April 1, Alonso has gone 3-for-32 (.094) over his past eight games.

“This is not my standard. Results-wise, yeah, it’s unacceptable for me, and I will be better. I know that. But yeah, it’s not fun,” Alonso said. “I know, for me, if I’m not producing in big spots with guys on base, it’s not good for the team. I will be better. I feel bad. A lot of people believe in me, and I believe in myself, but I’m not delivering results. I will. I just haven’t. But I will.”

Alonso had multiple opportunities to come through in key situations from the cleanup hole during the opener vs. San Francisco.

Adley Rutschman hit a two-out double in a scoreless game during the bottom of the first inning, putting Alonso in an early position to drive in a run against San Francisco right-hander Landen Roupp. But Alonso struck out looking after getting into a 3-0 count, watching the next three pitches get called for strikes low in the zone.

With the Orioles trailing 1-0 in the third, Alonso again came to the plate with two outs. Baltimore had runners on second and third after Rutschman knocked his second double. But Alonso struck out swinging, whiffing on a 76.7 mph curveball from Roupp that was below the zone.

Alonso grounded out to second base to end the fifth (when Rutschman was on first after a two-out single) and later drew a two-out walk in the eighth, when the O’s were behind 6-1.

“First at-bat, I thought I did a good job of laying off some pitcher’s pitches, and he got me. And then, I got over-aggressive my next two at-bats, I let that seep into my next two at-bats, which for me, it’s unacceptable,” Alonso said. “I wish I could have had some better at-bats in those spots. I just need to be better.”

Manager Craig Albernaz knows Alonso’s struggles aren’t from a lack of preparation. The eight-year MLB veteran -- who is a five-time All-Star and 2025 National League Silver Slugger Award winner with 265 career home runs on his ledger -- is trying his best to get out of the rut.

“With any hitter, when they're in a good spot, they're kind of just see ball, hit ball, and just be an athlete in there,” Albernaz said. “It looks like he's trying to handle too much as far as the prep in his approach, which is not always a bad thing. But also, it's like he's kind of searching a little bit on that end. It's not his swing. It's just more of the pitches to hit and what he's taking and then what he's swinging at.”

Alonso isn’t the only underproducing hitter in an Orioles lineup that is averaging 3.7 runs per game and has been held to two or fewer runs seven times during a 6-7 start. In fact, two of the only players off to strong starts are Gunnar Henderson and Taylor Ward.

Henderson slugged a two-run homer in the ninth, having now accounted for five of Baltimore’s nine home runs. Meanwhile, Ward hit another double, becoming the first player since at least 1900 to hit 10 doubles over his first 13 games with a team (per the Elias Sports Bureau).

Much like the O’s belief in themselves to get going as a unit, they’re confident Alonso will be himself soon.

“I don’t think anybody’s worried about Pete,” right-hander Shane Baz said. “He’ll be just fine.”

“Everybody goes through that sometimes, even the best players in the game -- which, I believe he is one of the best players in the game,” catcher Samuel Basallo said via team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “It’s just a matter of days until he gets it going here soon, and at the end of the season, we'll be looking at him as one of the best players.”