Pete Alonso's bat will play big in Baltimore.
You might say, "Well, duh." Alonso is a 30-to-40 home run a year player. He's an elite power hitter who's now coming to an Orioles team that just didn't have one last season, especially not a right-handed power hitter.
Alonso hit 38 home runs in 2025. That's more than double what any O's player hit. Their top home run hitters, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg, had 17 apiece. The 2025 Orioles got the seventh-fewest home runs by right-handed hitters of any team and were a bottom-10 team in terms of offensive value generated by their right-handed hitters.
So the Polar Bear -- who has 248 home runs in his six full-length MLB seasons and has hit at least 34 homers in each of those -- is obviously going to add much-needed juice to the Orioles lineup in 2026. But Alonso is a particularly good fit for Baltimore right now. That wouldn't necessarily have been true if he signed there even a couple of seasons ago.
See, a right-handed power bat signing in Baltimore is a lot more interesting than most places. That's because of the multiple changes to the left-field wall at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in the last few years.
For most of Camden Yards' history, it would've been a great ballpark for Alonso to play at. Through 2021, Oriole Park was almost always a haven for right-handed home run hitters. But in 2022, the Orioles famously created "Walltimore" -- they pushed the left-field wall back by 26 1/2 feet, and raised the height by six feet.
The deeper, taller wall instantly transformed Camden Yards into one of the worst homes for righty sluggers. The Orioles' highest single-season home run total from a right-handed hitter from 2022-24 was 22 by Ryan Mountcastle in 2022. He was the only one to break 20, and over the three years of Walltimore, his ballpark cost him 11 home runs.
So if Alonso had been looking for a new place to play during that time window, he might've never even looked Baltimore's way.
Luckily for Alonso -- and the O's -- Walltimore is gone. Before the 2025 season, the Orioles moved the fence back in and lowered it. And after one season played under the return of hitter-friendly dimensions, Alonso is headed to Baltimore. It makes perfect sense.
Here's a look at Statcast's park factors for Camden Yards over the past 20 years -- specifically, how the ballpark affected right-handed-hitter home runs, because that is Alonso's specialty.
Oriole Park went from one of the best places to hit home runs as a righty pre-Walltimore … to one of the worst places to hit home runs as a righty under Walltimore … and back to being a top-10 ballpark for righty home runs in the first season post-Walltimore.
There's no reason to think that will change in 2026, or for the five years of Alonso's contract (barring another dramatic outfield fence change, of course). He should be able to crush home runs in Baltimore for as long as he plays there.
Camden Yards could actually help boost Alonso's home run totals even higher now that Walltimore is gone. Not that he even needs it.
Statcast has a good stat for this -- "expected home runs" -- which tells you how many home runs a hitter would have at every ballpark, based on the trajectory and distance of all their batted balls while factoring in wall heights, wall distances and environmental factors for the 30 MLB stadiums.
Alonso hit 38 home runs in 2025. If he had played all of his games at Camden Yards, he would have had 45 home runs -- a seven-homer gain from the ballpark post-Walltimore.
That raising of Alonso's home run ceiling in Baltimore only exists because of the return to hitter-friendly dimensions. In each of the seasons of Walltimore's existence, playing all of his games at Oriole Park would have deflated Alonso's home run total. But in each season without Walltimore suppressing home run power, playing all of his games at Oriole Park would have inflated Alonso's home run total.
Alonso's expected HR gained/lost at Camden Yards
Full seasons before, during and after Walltimore
Before Walltimore
- 2019: +3 HR gained (53 HR total -- 56 xHR at Camden)
- 2021: +4 HR gained (37 HR total -- 41 xHR at Camden)
During Walltimore
- 2022: -4 HR lost (41 HR total -- 37 xHR at Camden)
- 2023: -9 HR lost (46 HR total -- 37 xHR at Camden)
- 2024: -5 HR lost (38 HR total -- 33 xHR at Camden)
After Walltimore
- 2025: +7 HR gained (38 HR total -- 45 xHR at Camden)
The Mets' Citi Field never provided Alonso the same sort of home run gains that Oriole Park might now that the dimensions are more favorable to right-handed power hitters.
In 2025, for example, Alonso's expected home run total if he played all his games at Citi Field, not just his home games, was 36. For the past three seasons, the Mets' home park would have suppressed Alonso's home run total, and before that, it was neutral.
That never stopped Alonso from mashing in his Mets career, but Polar Bear Pete's gaudy home run totals were probably more in spite of his home ballpark than because of it. If Walltimore still existed, he would've faced the same problem with the Orioles. But it doesn't, so he won't.
The new ballpark effects in Baltimore bode well for Alonso in 2026 and beyond. He should be exactly the slugger the Orioles need, if not more.