It’s been just shy of a year since MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald wrote , “The Orioles may have found the lefty bat they wanted” when writing about Ryan O’Hearn ’s then-nascent breakout in Baltimore. Acquired from the Royals in exchange for cash on the heels of a DFA, O’Hearn was subsequently designated for assignment by the Orioles as well before being passed through waivers unclaimed and sent outright to Triple-A Norfolk. It was the sort of ostensible unremarkable trade that is made hundreds of times over the course of a calendar year and quickly forgotten — until it wasn’t.
As most are aware — certainly every Orioles fan — O’Hearn indeed emerged as the left-handed bat Baltimore had sought. At the time of Darragh’s piece last year, O’Hearn was slashing .308/.
348/.542 with six home runs in 115 plate appearances. It wasn’t a big sample and he wasn’t walking much (5.
2%), but O’Hearn’s batted-ball data supported much of that early flurry. He finished the year in strong fashion, seeing regular playing time against right-handed pitching and ending the year with a stout .289/.
322/.480 slash — 18% better than league average, by measure of wRC+. For a player who’d hit .
211/.282/.351 with a 27% strikeout rate over the four prior seasons in Kansas City (2019-22) before being designated for assignment, last season was a stunning breakout.
The Orioles would’ve been thrilled just to have that one year, but O’Hearn came to Baltimore with four-plus yea.