Ryan O’Hearn will celebrate home runs and drink from the hydration station like anyone else. He loves barreling the baseball, rattling seats, slapping hands with teammates at home plate and in front of the dugout.
But if you want to see him really get excited about an at-bat, wait until a pitch runs in on his fists.
“Probably my favorite kind of hits are jam-shot singles to left field,” he said yesterday, “especially with two strikes.”
O’Hearn is delivering every possible variety this season. He lined three singles to the opposite field Monday afternoon against the Cardinals at 104.4 mph, 85.1 mph and 85.2 mph. All of them on sinkers. He went 3-for-3 with a home run and walk Sunday in Boston, pulling a slider to right field for a single, launching a four-seam fastball 396 feet at 103. 2 mph for his eighth homer, and driving a changeup to the fence in right-center for a double that became a Little League home run after two Red Sox’s throwing errors.
He circled the bases again last night but in legit fashion, belting a three-run homer that gave the Orioles a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning. A first-pitch 94 mph fastball from Andre Pallante cleared the center field fence at 405 feet with an exit velocity of 106.1 mph. Only Cedric Mullins (10) has hit more home runs than O’Hearn, who collected his ninth last night.
The part-time tag is torn off. O’Hearn is a regular in the lineup, including his starts in both ends of Saturday’s doubleheader. His RBI single in the eighth inning of Game 2 broke a scoreless tie.
The Orioles are getting a very nice return on the $8 million option that they picked up in November.
O’Hearn went into last night batting .341/.428/.571 in 145 plate appearances against right-handers, and he was 9-for-27 (.333) with an .827 OPS versus lefties. He received 42 at-bats against southpaws last summer and 26 in 2023.
“I think that’s kind of it is he’s shown flashes in the last couple years of just this really, really consistent, good hitter, and I think he’s been able to put that together throughout the whole course of this season,” said hitting coach Cody Asche.
“Just kind of staying the course, knowing who he is and being really comfortable with who he is. Really comfortable with his approach, and I think him getting some ABs against lefties, that’s been a huge confidence boost for him, too. He’s just really believing in himself and his approach right now.”
Last night’s lineup included O’Hearn as designated hitter. He’s played the outfield corners and first base, and he hasn’t stopped hitting.
O’Hearn has reached safely in 27 of 28 games since April 24, slashing .374/.466/.596 with four doubles, six homers, 15 RBIs, 15 walks and 15 runs scored in that stretch. He was the first Oriole with 15 hits in a six-game span since Trey Mancini in 2019, and he’s up to 16 in seven.
Even his outs are impressive. He lined a sinker to left fielder Lars Nootbaar last night at 102.4 mph to strand Ryan Mountcastle.
“He’s been unbelievable," interim manager Tony Mansolino said after Sunday’s win that clinched a series split. "His first year here, he was really, really good. I felt like last year he kind of fell victim to some of the pressure around us not scoring runs in the second half. I thought he had a nice first half last year … and then the second half I thought he struggled.
“I think having the option exercised, he comes back, there’s some security there. He’s really carried us here the whole year. He’s been awesome."
A check of the American League leader board certainly puts O’Hearn’s season in perspective. He’s a qualifier, and he ranks second in on-base percentage at .428 and OPS at .986, third in slugging percentage at .558 and fourth in average at .340. His average before last night was the highest by an Orioles player in the first 53 games since Chris Davis hit .359 in 2013, and his OPS was the highest since Manny Machado’s 1.004 in 2018.
Perhaps it isn’t surprising that he led the club with a 1.9 fWAR and bWAR, ahead of Gunnar Henderson’s 1.3 and 1.8, respectively.
“I really don’t know what it is as far as the numbers, but yeah, just making sure both feet are on the ground before I make a swing decision,” he said. “Not overswinging. Making sure my direction’s correct. And you see it.
“It’s just how it goes. Sometimes you have the magic wand and sometimes you don’t.”
O’Hearn is making his doubters disappear. What he’s doing is real. It isn’t a fluke. And a big reason is bat control, control of the strike zone and knowing how to use the entire field.
“It’s kind of been my mojo is getting singles to left on fastballs for the most part and then anything off-speed in the middle of the plate I’m looking to launch to right-center,” he said. “Just worked out (Monday), got some fastballs in the middle of the plate, stayed to left field. I think that’s traits of good hitters is they can get jammed for singles. It’s demoralizing against a pitcher, especially if there’s two strikes.”
The Orioles acquired O’Hearn from the Royals for cash considerations on Jan. 3, 2023 and designated him for assignment two days later. He had to claw his way back onto the 40-man roster and stayed there, appearing in a career-high 142 games last season and slashing .264/.334/.427 with a career-best 15 home runs.
The entire offense cooled after the break, but O’Hearn disagrees that he fell into the trap of pressing.
“Not really,” he said. “The second half last year? I wasn’t great but I wasn’t bad. I don’t feel like I was scrambling to be productive. I don’t think I was pressing. Everyone wants to play well and get hot, and I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job of flushing every day and showing up the next day ready to rock. In a good headspace for the most part.”
More people finally are beginning to notice.
O’Hearn hits line drives and flies under the radar.
“I think so. Probably undeservingly,” Asche said.
“He’s been a really, really good hitter for us the last two years. In ’23 he flirted with .300 right till the end, last year his OPS was really, really good. He’s been a middle-of-the-order bat, he’s driven in runs. Just good at-bats. Puts the ball in play, doesn’t strike out much, takes his walks. And I feel like every year with us he’s made improvements.”
O’Hearn is fine with the lack of attention. He also can control his ego. But ranking second to Aaron Judge in OBP and OPS in the American League is deserving of high praise, and it puts him in early discussions about Most Valuable Oriole.
Call it MVO’Hearn.
“If he’s flying under the radar,” Asche said, “that’s probably a miscalculation on the league’s part to kind of ignore who and what Ryan O’Hearn is.”