Former Met Pete Alonso homers in Orioles spring training debut vs. Yankees

SARASOTA, Fla. — Pete Alonso paused late Friday morning before heading into the cage for batting practice at Ed Smith Stadium. In a couple of hours, he would be wearing a Baltimore Orioles uniform in game action for the first time.

He spotted a familiar face walking toward him and smiled.

Alonso, who signed a five-year, $155 million free-agent deal with the Orioles in the offseason, embraced Yankees third-base coach Luis Rojas, his manager with the Mets in 2020-21. The two chatted for a few minutes.

Was it odd seeing Alonso in colors other than those belonging to the Mets?

“A little bit, of course,” Rojas told Newsday with a smile after his talk with Alonso, a second-round draft pick of the Mets in 2016 who spent the first seven years of his big-league career with them before his high-profile departure to Baltimore. “I’m used to seeing Pete with the Mets’ colors. I think everyone’s probably used to that. I think we’re going to get used to seeing him in these colors now.

“Just happy for him he got the deal he got. He seemed really happy, too, just talking to him briefly before BP. But always great to see familiar faces in baseball that you spent some time with in the clubhouse. Very happy for him.”

Alonso — who people around the Orioles say emerged as a clubhouse leader pretty much from Day 1 for a team that has a solid young core of players who had a disappointing 2025 — had a memorable first game in the black-and-orange of his new uniform.

He crushed a first-pitch curveball from Yankees righthander Bradley Hanner to left for a two-run homer in the sixth inning that gave Baltimore a 2-0 victory. The ball cleared the stands in left and left the stadium.

Fire us up, Pete 🔥 pic.twitter.com/A3yZ0EJB0V

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) February 20, 2026

“Hitting homers feels amazing. Doesn’t matter what time of the year,” Alonso told reporters with a smile after going 1-for-3. “Happy to break the seal.”

Rojas saw plenty of that during his time with the Mets. He was the manager for Double-A Binghamton when Alonso was promoted there late in the 2017 season and again in 2018, when the first baseman played 65 games for Binghamton before a promotion to Triple-A Las Vegas.

Rojas was a quality control coach in the majors with the Mets in 2019, Alonso’s National League Rookie of the Year season, when he hit a rookie-record 53 homers (breaking Aaron Judge’s record of 52).

Rojas said from the first time he saw Alonso, in big-league spring training 2017, he felt the then-22-year-old had the “it” factor that portended success at the highest level.

“He was one of the guys you definitely perceived, ‘This guy is different,’ ” said Rojas, who in the offseason interviewed for the Orioles’ managerial position that went to Craig Albernaz. “Elite power and had all the baseball personality. Going about his business, working hard, but at the same time having the balance of a good attitude, humorous, energetic and enthusiastic about being in baseball as a professional player.

“The only thing at the time separating him was his defense, and he worked so hard at it and got so much better because of the dedication he put into it.”

Alonso, who hit 38 homers last year and 264 in seven years with the Mets, brings that power stroke into the AL East and, more specifically, into a new home ballpark that couldn’t be more different from his previous one, Citi Field.

Baltimore’s Camden Yards, from the time it opened in 1992, has mostly been known as a hitter’s paradise. (Citi Field, as no Mets fan needs reminding, is not viewed quite the same way.)

Even with the wall in left moved back a couple of years ago, balls fly out of Camden Yards regularly. The baseball carries especially well to right and right-center, just like Yankee Stadium.

“Alonso in that ballpark could be scary,” one American League scout said. “His swing just fits so well there.”

Alonso has played 10 games at Camden Yards in interleague play, hitting five homers with a 1.039 OPS. He has 11 career homers and an .873 career OPS in 32 games against the Yankees, with seven homers and an .835 OPS in 19 games at Yankee Stadium.

Needless to say, Alonso is looking forward to playing more games against the Yankees, both in Baltimore and the Bronx.

“It’s always fun because Yankee Stadium, it’s a really great place to play, a fun place to hit,” Alonso said. “And, obviously, they have really good teams, and when you play against good teams, it makes for good competition. I’m looking forward to this next chapter.”