Jon Meoli: How Pete Alonso is taking a hands-on role in helping Gunnar Henderson salvage his season

Armed with assistant hitting coach Brady North’s cellphone, Pete Alonso stood outside the turtle shell opposite Gunnar Henderson during batting practice Wednesday and recorded his swings.

When Henderson’s round finished, Alonso circled over to give his feedback in what’s been a growing dialogue that Henderson has credited as part of his recent renaissance. The two hunched together to watch the swings, and then Alonso started demonstrating the lower-half posture he’s been trying to help Henderson with.

As Henderson replicated it, Alonso was literally hands-on, holding Henderson’s hip to force him to keep it in place. Eventually, he stepped back and Henderson did a series of strides forward from that position.

As Henderson heats up this month in an effort to salvage both his and the Orioles’ season, these conversations with Alonso have been a recent catalyst.

“There’s a lot of similar movements between him and I, so I’m helping and providing advice based on things that I’ve had to figure out, navigate through and, ultimately, we’re not changing anything,” Alonso told me. “I would just say retooling, or finding and reconfirming what’s good for him. It’s not anything out of the box. A lot of it is just tiny little sequences. We’re not changing moves. It’s just, we’re building it and understanding why.”

Henderson, who with a double and a walk Wednesday pulled his OPS in the last 10 games up to .939 and his season OPS up to .703, preceded this stretch with the most frustrating season of his career. He started hot, homering six times in the Orioles’ first 14 games, but in the next 102 games — almost four months of baseball — he had a .643 OPS.

He’s been hitting the ball hard consistently but not being rewarded for it, and his frustration has been plain to see. Henderson seemed primed to regain the form that made him the American League Rookie of the Year in 2023 and an All-Star in 2024. Four-plus months in, those efforts continue, albeit through a lot of dissatisfaction.

“That’s a superpower, his competitiveness,” Alonso said. “That’s why he’s had a lot of success in this league. All the success he’s had, it’s not by accident. You have to have that. But also, as well, there needs to be some sort of, ‘How can we refine something and unlock a little something to help performance?’”

Alonso said he and Henderson have always had a good relationship; he said they hit together postgame in Miami in early May as Henderson was in the early stages of trying to bust out of his skid. Judging by manager Craig Albernaz’s faith in him at the top of the lineup and the overall track record he has, there’s clearly been an effort to let Henderson figure things out his own way.

Alonso has met Henderson on his terms.

“From a mechanical slash intent thing, there’s different languages,” he said. “I feel like, as the year has gone on, I feel like I can kind of speak his language, what he prioritizes and what he needs to feel to be great.”

In this case, it’s about Henderson involving his lower half more in his swing and moving more efficiently from a solid base. A hitter struggling to do damage on fastballs can sometimes be starting his swing in a way that makes it hard to catch up to heaters. Alonso’s instruction Wednesday appeared to center on keeping Henderson’s back hip stable and making his first move forward, which would allow him to be more on time for fastballs.

After hitting .277 on four-seamers with a .497 slugging percentage entering this season, Henderson is batting .156 with a .279 slugging percentage on them in 2026.

“That’s my bread and butter,” Henderson said. “If I can get back to that, that puts me on all the off-speed [pitches] and being able to adjust to that. I feel like that’s been a big key, but also just having confidence in myself and my approach.”

Alonso has enjoyed how their work together of late has been “symbiotic.” He’s offering advice and allowing Henderson to still be himself. He knows that can be where the worst damage is done.

But he also understands what it’s like to have a season when things aren’t as they should be. Henderson said Alonso told him about his 2024 — the only year Alonso’s OPS dipped under .800 in his career — and how he worked through it.

The difference is that Alonso was 29 that year, well into his career. Henderson is far along too, but he began this season at age 24 — the same age Alonso was when he made his major league debut in 2019. What Alonso can offer with all that perspective is how he’s been able to sustain it and, in some ways, improve, by giving Henderson “the control system” to his swing.

“He knows which buttons and levers to press at certain times and knows when to back off certain things,” Alonso said.

The early returns are strong, based on Henderson’s recent heater. Albernaz said he’s seen Henderson be more selective, even on some pitches in the strike zone because he might not be able to do damage on them. But he noted that the hard contact that persists is a good sign. Entering Wednesday, Henderson’s hard-hit rate in August was 48.9%, his highest of any month this season. He believes the rewards will come.

“It’s very frustrating, and sometimes you’ve just got to laugh at it,” he said. “I mean, you do everything right and still don’t get the result. But it’s a good and bad thing. Obviously want to get the job done, but I know that it’s going right whenever I’m hitting the ball hard. And just not finding the gap or finding some grass. It’s only a matter of time before they start really falling, and I feel like I’m in the right spot right now.”