Ryan

Mountcastle

This is an interesting deal now that Pete Alonso is in Baltimore. Mountcastle was limited to just 89 games in 2025, hitting .250 with seven home runs. However, he’s a .263/.312/.438 career hitter with 98 home runs in 652 games. If he were healthy and productive, a $7.5 million deal would be extremely good value for him. With Coby Mayo and Samuel Basallo also battling for reps at 1B/DH, the added club option may make it a bit easier for the Orioles to trade Mountcastle should they decide that’s the path they want to go down.

The second-largest contract in Orioles history is now official. Hopefully, it works out a whole lot better than the biggest, which was Chris Davis’s ill-fated seven-year, $161 million deal signed a decade ago. Alonso will likely hit third or fourth for the Orioles, and he should benefit some from the move out of Citi Field, though more so from a singles and doubles standpoint than when it comes to homers. The signing frees up to the Orioles to part with Ryan Mountcastle or Coby Mayo and it wouldn’t be surprising to see both of them on the move. One of the two could be part a DH rotation, but neither seems entirely necessary at this point. If both do stick around, Mayo will probably open next season back in the minors.

The Orioles finally did it. Matching the Phillies’ five-year, $150 million offer to Kyle Schwarber didn’t work out, but the Mets probably weren’t similarly motivated to pay Alonso quite this much, at least not for so long. The 31-year-old Alonso is coming off perhaps his most impressive season since his rookie campaign, having hit .272/.347/.524 with 38 homers and 126 RBI. His average exit velocity off the bat was 93.5 mph, which is about four mph ahead of where he was from 2022-24, and his .385 xwOBA was a career high. His 89 barrels were 23 more than he’d ever collected before. With Alonso slotting in at first base, one imagines the Orioles will seek to move Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo, though it’s possible they could keep one as a DH option.

There was a thought that Mountcastle could be non-tendered because of his injury issues and a salary that will likely pay him $8 million plus for 2026, but Baltimore will keep the 28-year-old. For now. Mountcastle is as obvious a trade candidate as there is, and it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see him playing elsewhere before the start of the campaign.

Mountcastle DH’d today in what might have been his final home game in Baltimore. He’s hit .262/.301/.404 with five homers and 20 RBI in 36 games since returning from a strained hamstring. The Orioles have him under control for one more year, but they might decide against paying the $8 million or so it would take to bring him back in arbitration.

Rutschman is back from his second oblique strain after going 4-for-16 with a homer in four games for Triple-A Norfolk. One imagines he’ll start three or four games this week, with Samuel Basallo maybe DHing in a couple of those. Ryan Mountcastle figures to lose some at-bats.

Mountcastle’s homer left the bat at 114.3 mph. He also hit balls 106.0 mph and 104.3 mph off Will Warren, with the latter turning into his sac fly. He’s hitting an adequate .272/.309/.408 in 32 games since returning from his hamstring strain. It’s at least a whole lot better than his .246/.280/.348 line in 52 games pre-injury.

Usual leadoff man Jackson Holliday is getting this one off with lefty Max Fried on the mound. With Tyler O’Neill back in the mix and the Orioles having committed to Coby Mayo at first, Mountcastle had been out of the lineup five times in seven games. He seems destined to be moved this winter, unless maybe the Orioles decide that Mayo isn’t the answer at first.

Samuel Basallo will shift to DH with Alex Jackson starting behind the plate. Mountcastle has hit .282/.325/.409 in 28 games since coming off the IL with three home runs, 16 RBI, and two steals. He should be back in the starting lineup on Friday and remains the favorite to start at first base for the Orioles in 2026.

Mountcastle doubled in two runs in the third and singled home two more in the fifth. He’s driven in 27 runs over his 71 games with an underwhelming slash of .258/.294/.365 to go with them. It seems awfully likely that this will be Mountcastle’s last year as a member of the Orioles.