For the Kansas City Royals, Ryan O’Hearn was a part-time player, then was designated for assignment. After a trade to Baltimore, he was designated for assignment, then became a part-time player.
O’Hearn has since emerged as the Orioles’ primary cleanup hitter, showcasing talent he had put on display as inconsistently as he had received playing time. If Baltimore is facing a right-handed starter, O’Hearn, a left-handed hitter, will occupy the fourth spot in the lineup, and deservedly so.
Months removed from two organizations — including his current one — cutting him from their 40-man roster in a span of days, the 29-year-old first baseman-outfielder is batting .341 with a .993 OPS. That includes a .404 average and 1.167 OPS in the three-plus weeks since adjusting his hand positioning and posture in his batting stance.
“Hitting is such a process,” O’Hearn said. “You’re never done learning, I think, and fortunately this year, I’ve been around some really good people that have helped me, and things are going the right direction. I couldn’t be more ecstatic about that. I’m having fun out there, competing, not thinking about what mechanical adjustments I’m doing or anything like that. I’m in a good place right now mentally and just having fun competing.”
O’Hearn is having a breakout at a welcome time for the Orioles. Along with Aaron Hicks — signed by Baltimore days after being released by the New York Yankees — he’s filling the void in the lineup opened by center fielder Cedric Mullins and first baseman Ryan Mountcastle landing on the injured list.
Even when they return, O’Hearn has earned continued opportunities with his most extended run of success since he was a rookie with Kansas City in 2018, when he hit 12 home runs in 44 games. He struggled to replicate that over the next four seasons; by OPS+, his offensive production was 30% below league average during that stretch, and his playing time progressively decreased. Despite spending the entirety of the 2022 season on the Royals’ major league roster, he appeared in only 67 of their 162 games.
Within about a week’s span around the new year, O’Hearn was designated for assignment by Kansas City, traded to the Orioles for cash, then designated for assignment by Baltimore. He remained with the organization and competed for a roster spot in the spring, impressing despite a right knee injury but ultimately opening the year at Triple-A Norfolk.
He thrived there, earning a promotion to Baltimore but once again receiving irregular playing time. Around briefly being sent back to the minors, O’Hearn hit .256 with a .764 OPS in his first 16 games for the Orioles, modest numbers that represented an improvement over his performance with Kansas City.
But throughout that time, he worked with Orioles hitting coaches Ryan Fuller and Matt Borgschulte to take another step forward. Although the coaches had several areas they wanted to address in O’Hearn’s hitting mechanics, they spent the spring focused on his hips swaying back toward the catcher during his load, disrupting his timing.
“If you have a crappy lower body, your upper body is probably going to be out of whack, too,” Fuller said.
Once they felt pleased with the improvements there, the group began to work on O’Hearn’s hand placement and posture. O’Hearn’s original stance featured his hands held high and his bat flat on his shoulder, and when he began to load for his swing, his hands and torso would move together, causing O’Hearn to hunch and making it difficult for him to attack inside pitches or drive the ball the other way.
“Instead of energy from the torso to the arms to the bat, it was energy from the hips into the bat all at once,” Fuller said. “He was losing a lot of power, but also just consistency with barrel control and accuracy, transferring that and then being able to manipulate with his hands, which he does a great job of.
“It’s kind of like a slingshot. Those hands are going to come last, and you’re going to be more consistent.”
Asked whether he found it strange that these weaknesses in his mechanics hadn’t been pointed out before he came to Baltimore, O’Hearn simply responded, “You could say that.” Fuller said getting any player to buy into change is about first “developing the relationship.”
“We don’t feel shy about saying, ‘Hey, we think this will make you better,’” Fuller said. “If you want to attack it now, we’ll jump in. If it takes two weeks or a month for you to get comfortable, that’s cool, too, but know we have a plan in place to make it better, and we really believe in it. We took time to develop it. And most of the time, when we’ve had that approach with guys, they kind of say, ‘Heck yeah, let’s jump in.’
“We definitely want guys to see that maybe it didn’t work out in another organization, they come here, they have success, and they’re on a different level now. We definitely hope people are seeing that, and we can attract more guys like that.”
O’Hearn is a strong example. Through a series of drills, Fuller and Borgschulte trained him on moving his hands lower and standing more straight up, with O’Hearn emphasizing the posture changes as the more impactful of the tweaks. He began by practicing the movements without a stride before integrating the “Bellinger drill,” mimicking former National League Most Valuable Player Cody Bellinger by starting his stance with his feet close together.
The process allowed him to grow used to the stance and associated movements, enough so that he was ready to deploy the changes in a game. On May 31, the barrel of his bat was noticeably higher in his stance, and he went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
“Got a couple of hits the first day, and I was like, ‘All right, here we go,’” O’Hearn said. “It’s pretty crazy how it was a pretty smooth transition. I didn’t have to think a whole lot differently about what I was doing. I just would start [my hands lower], and it kind of naturally would happen.”
O’Hearn got his desired improvement on inside pitches, which he said he “used to just freaking pound into the ground.” He’s slugging .714 on pitches on the inner third of the strike zone since introducing the changes in games, according to Baseball Savant.
Noting O’Hearn has always shown pull-side power, Fuller said the adjustments have allowed for him to go to left field with more authority. When hitting to the opposite field, O’Hearn is batting .583 and slugging 1.000, double his marks with Baltimore before the changes and those he posted in his final four years with the Royals.
Since May 31, two-thirds of O’Hearn’s balls in play have been hit 95 mph or harder, tied for the highest hard-hit rate in the majors among the more than 290 players who have made contact at least 25 times in that span. He ranks third when the threshold is increased to 101 mph.
“If there’s a righty in there, he wants to go in and bop,” Fuller said. “He loves competing. He wants to be great, and he’s just a great guy and a great fit for this clubhouse.”
O’Hearn has been that way since he arrived in the organization, manager Brandon Hyde said.
“He definitely has got the right makeup,” Hyde said. “There were stretches in Kansas City where he didn’t play at all. To be here, be a part of a winning environment, fit in really well with the guys, he wants to stay and he wants to be a part of what’s going on here, and that’s obvious. It was obvious in spring training. He just comes to the park every day with an awesome mindset and a great attitude, and he plays hard.
“He’s just doing everything right.”
Mariners at Orioles
Friday, 7:05 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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