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Pete Alonso is known as a slugger, and for good reason. Now in his eighth major league season — and first with the Baltimore Orioles — the 31-year-old first baseman has 285 home runs and a .511 slugging percentage to go with a 132 wRC+ over 1,111 career games. His right-handed stroke produced 53 round-trippers in 2019, and he also boasts single-season totals of 45, 40, 38, and 37. Only in the truncated COVID campaign has he finished with fewer than 30.

It would be unfair to pigeon-hole the University of Florida product, and erstwhile New York Met, as simply a slugger, though. That’s especially true when it comes to Alonso’s approach at the plate, as well as his overall understanding of the craft. While the term “student of hitting” is arguably overused, it fits Baltimore’s top basher to a T.

In the latest installment of our Talks Hitting series — now 125 deep — Alonso addresses his self identity, the subtle adjustments he’s made over the years, and the studious manner in which he attacks pitchers. Our conversation took place at Fenway Park over the weekend.

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David Laurila: How would you define yourself as a hitter?

Pete Alonso: “I’d like to consider myself a line drive hitter that has strength, puts up really good professional at-bats, and can spoil pitches. I can kind of set traps. Ultimately, I’m a line drive hitter with strength.”

Laurila: You’re generally viewed as a power hitter. Do you like that label?

Alonso: “I love the label. Power is based on results. If you hit a ton of home runs and a ton of doubles, consistently, you’re a power hitter. It doesn’t matter what your physical stature looks like. If you get the power results, then you’re a power hitter.

“Honestly, I’m just trying to hit a hard line drive. That’s really all it is. Hit a hard drive, and not necessarily out in front. I’m better at just meeting the ball where it’s pitched and putting a swing on that. I’m not trying to produce power. I’m just trying to produce pure contact. I think chasing and producing pure contact is the best thing anyone can do. All good things happen on the sweet spot of the bat.”

Laurila: You mentioned setting traps. Can you elaborate on that?

Alonso: “No. I’m not going to give away anything.”

Laurila: Manny Ramirez was known for setting pitchers up…

Alonso: “Yes. You can do that. 100%. You can set guys up. You can kind of…. yeah, I’m not going to elaborate on that and give up too much.”

Laurila: What about how you’ve evolved as a hitter mechanically. For instance, if I looked at film of you hitting when you first signed and compared it to now, would I basically see the same guy?

Alonso: “I’d say that you would see the same thumbprint, the same DNA, but now you would see some more efficient stuff. Things would look more efficient. Obviously, there have been some micro adjustments along the way, but again, the same DNA.”

Laurila: I assume the subtle adjustments are something you can elaborate on?

Alonso: “When I was in college, my last year, I was a little bit more open. I’ve had points in my career where I was a little more closed off, a little bit more tall, a little bit more in my legs. I guess my hand placement has been a little lower or a little higher. It’s all evolving based on a long period of results, or how pitchers are pitching me. It’s all micro adjustments. But the [bat] path and the DNA — how my body moves — I think you would see a lot of similar things.

“There are certain things, certain adjustments, that happen year to year, where if there is a staple, you find a higher level of efficiency and you keep those. You keep those little nuggets of information, you keep those feels. For me as a hitter, it’s not just the game-planning aspect. A lot of it is mastery of knowing how to turn the dials in the swing and the approach. You can take that into the game. You can beat a pitcher multiple different ways.”

Laurila: Are you much of a hitting-lab, hitting-analytics guy?

Alonso: “100%. I’d been open to it, but I hadn’t fully bought into it until last year.
Last year and this year I have a higher understanding of what I need to do day-to-day, how I can get my body working in efficient patterns and pretty much matching the angle of the baseball coming in — chase that pure contact that I spoke about earlier.”

Laurila: You’re basically trying to stay on plane with the pitch…

Alonso: “Yeah, staying on plane, but that’s very general. For me, it’s understanding release points, understanding not just movement plots, because everything is different. What people look at now is movement plots, but with everything going on, I think there is a lot of baseball context not there. The pitch plot, or whatever, doesn’t take into consideration where there is more induced, or less induced, movement based on a release point. Something can be nasty on a pitch plot, but if a guy doesn’t have an ideal release point, his stuff is going to look lackluster in-game. There are other guys with a more difficult release point, or the release point is more complementary to their stuff. The stuff on the plot doesn’t really matter, because the stuff is moving way more than what the pitch plot says, because it’s coming from a different release point, or height.

“The pitch plot doesn’t tell the whole story, and I think that is really disappointing from a scouting and game-prep standpoint. It’s what people rely on, but I don’t think that’s always accurate. It’s only focusing on one aspect of the entire baseball picture. Yes, you’re looking at the spin, but that doesn’t paint the picture of the ball coming from hand all the way to the plate.”

Laurila: You’re looking at, and planning for, multiple factors…

Alonso: “I look at where guys stand on the rubber. I look at release height. I look at all those things so that I can anticipate. I try to paint a picture of how the ball is going to be coming into the zone or not in the zone. I’m very visual, especially with tracking pitches.

“I think the biggest thing for me is understanding how to shut down certain lanes, and where I can be, ‘OK, regardless of pitch type, which area can I punt? How many pitches can I cover with my good window, and get my A-swing off with positive results?’ Where can I hit the ball hard? And if a ball doesn’t show up in an area I want, that’s a take.”

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Earlier “Talks Hitting” interviews can found through these links: Jo Adell, Jeff Albert, Greg Allen, Nolan Arenado, Aaron Bates, Jacob Berry, Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, Justice Bigbie, Cavan Biggio, Charlie Blackmon, JJ Bleday, Bobby Bradley, Will Brennan, Jay Bruce, Triston Casas, Matt Chapman, Michael Chavis, Max Clark, Garrett Cooper, Gavin Cross, Jacob Cruz, Nelson Cruz, Paul DeJong, Brenton Del Chiaro, Josh Donaldson, Brendan Donovan, Donnie Ecker, Rick Eckstein, Drew Ferguson, Justin Foscue, Michael Fransoso, Ryan Fuller, Joey Gallo, Paul Goldschmidt, Devlin Granberg, Gino Groover, Matt Hague, Andy Haines, Mitch Haniger, Bryce Harper, Robert Hassell III, Austin Hays, Nico Hoerner, Jackson Holliday, Spencer Horwitz, Rhys Hoskins, Eric Hosmer, Jacob Hurtubise, Tim Hyers, Walker Jenkins, Connor Joe, Jace Jung, Josh Jung, Jimmy Kerr, Heston Kjerstad, Steven Kwan, Shea Langeliers, Trevor Larnach, Doug Latta, Dillon Lawson, Brooks Lee, Royce Lewis, Evan Longoria, Joey Loperfido, Michael Lorenzen, Mark Loretta, Gavin Lux, Dave Magadan, Trey Mancini, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Marcelo Mayer, Kevin McGonigle, Hunter Mense, Owen Miller, Paul Molitor, Colson Montgomery, Tre’ Morgan, Ryan Mountcastle, Cedric Mullins, Daniel Murphy, Lars Nootbaar, Logan O’Hoppe, Vinnie Pasquantino, Graham Pauley, David Peralta, Luke Raley, Julio Rodríguez, Brent Rooker, Thomas Saggese, Anthony Santander, Drew Saylor, Nolan Schanuel, Marcus Semien, Giancarlo Stanton, Spencer Steer, Trevor Story, Fernando Tatis Jr., James Tibbs III, Spencer Torkelson, Mark Trumbo, Brice Turang, Justin Turner, Trea Turner, Josh VanMeter, Robert Van Scoyoc, Chris Valaika, Zac Veen, Alex Verdugo, Mark Vientos, Matt Vierling, Luke Voit, Anthony Volpe, Joey Votto, Ryan Waldschmidt, Christian Walker, Jared Walsh, Jordan Westburg, Jesse Winker, Bobby Witt Jr. Mike Yastrzemski, Nick Yorke, Kevin Youkilis