Ryan O'Hearn has to start

[interloper]

2 minutes ago, deward said:

The Mateo experience should make people reluctant to trust the long-term effects of batting tweaks. It's still far more likely that O'Hearn reverts back to the guy from the last four years than it is that he's made real gains on this scale. He's been a fun story and a big help over the past month, and he should continue to eat into Mountcastle's PT as long as he stays hot, but I hope the club won't decide to give him the same kind of rope they've given to Mateo if/when he shows signs of regression.

Maybe. It is a lot like when Mateo has a hot streak. Former top prospect, high k-rate guys, etc. We'll just have to see. Personally, I think O'Hearn's bat profile is much better than Mateo's so he has a higher chance of maintaining success. 

However, O'Hearn does have the benefit of basically only playing vs RHP while Mateo is in there against most everybody. 

[jamalshw]

I agree with those questioning whether this can last for O'Hearn, but just like with Hicks, I'm happy for the team to ride it as long as it does. 

[LA2]

8 hours ago, interloper said:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-ryan-ohearn-adjustments-breakout-royals-20230623-mut7w3wijzg5zk6dtisd2i75gm-story.html

Great article on O'Hearn's battign tweaks. It's great to see this kind of stuff. Obviously it's impossible to make everyone instantly better like this (Mounty, Mateo, etc), but it's enormous for the organization when it works out. Especially with guys like O'Hearn who were cast-offs but still young. 

It's enough to make me wonder if Fuller/Borgschulte could have gotten anything out of Chris Davis if they were around then. I have a feeling Davis wouldn't be as willing to implement changes. 

Too bad there's a subscription wall. Cd you say in one sentence what the major change was? Thanx.

[LA2]

Regardless of what develops later--like pitchers finding a successful new way to pitch to him--I must say that O'Hearn is so locked in that he's making it look easy. The replays from the 3rd-base perspective of his swing on home runs look as if he's playing T-ball.

[Malike]

13 hours ago, interloper said:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-ryan-ohearn-adjustments-breakout-royals-20230623-mut7w3wijzg5zk6dtisd2i75gm-story.html

Great article on O'Hearn's battign tweaks. It's great to see this kind of stuff. Obviously it's impossible to make everyone instantly better like this (Mounty, Mateo, etc), but it's enormous for the organization when it works out. Especially with guys like O'Hearn who were cast-offs but still young. 

It's enough to make me wonder if Fuller/Borgschulte could have gotten anything out of Chris Davis if they were around then. I have a feeling Davis wouldn't be as willing to implement changes. 

Good read and insight. Keep in mind, O'Hearn will be 30 next month, he's not exactly young. We talk about Santander like he's an old man and he's 28.

[waroriole]

18 hours ago, interloper said:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-ryan-ohearn-adjustments-breakout-royals-20230623-mut7w3wijzg5zk6dtisd2i75gm-story.html

Great article on O'Hearn's battign tweaks. It's great to see this kind of stuff. Obviously it's impossible to make everyone instantly better like this (Mounty, Mateo, etc), but it's enormous for the organization when it works out. Especially with guys like O'Hearn who were cast-offs but still young. 

It's enough to make me wonder if Fuller/Borgschulte could have gotten anything out of Chris Davis if they were around then. I have a feeling Davis wouldn't be as willing to implement changes. 

Sometimes guys have hot streaks. Remember when these articles were coming out about Mateo. Let’s just see how far he regresses when the hot streak wears off. 

[Orioles0615]

16 hours ago, jamalshw said:

I agree with those questioning whether this can last for O'Hearn, but just like with Hicks, I'm happy for the team to ride it as long as it does. 

I expect them to override it just like with every other scrub player 

[LA2]

In the 7th inning, O'Hearn hit what would have been a 2-run homer except that J-Rod made a leaping over-the-fence catch. There's a nice video highlight of it, with the PBP announcer calling it "the  catch of his [Rodriguez's] life!" (The highlight's title is "Julio Rodriguez's homer-robbing snag." Didn't post the URL b/c it gives the whole slate of highlights, not just this one.)

Had it eluded J-Rod's glove, it wd have given O'Hearn 7 HR and 22 RBI in 98 AB this season. Using the 1982 Lowenstein ratio*, that wd project to 23 HR / 72 RBI. Brother Low's numbers that year were 24 HR / 66 RBI.

* 322 AB / Present n of AB of a platooned LH-hitter. That's how many AB JLow had that year, of which only 7 were vs. LHP. 

Edited June 25, 2023 by LA2

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, LA2 said:

In the 7th inning, O'Hearn hit what would have been a 2-run homer except that J-Rod made a leaping over-the-fence catch. There's a nice video highlight of it, with the PBP announcer called it the best catch of his career! 

Had it eluded J-Rod's glove, it wd have given O'Hearn 7 HR and 22 RBI in 98 AB this season. Using the 1982 Lowenstein ratio, that wd project to 23 HR / 72 RBI (Brother Low's numbers that year were 24 HR / 66 RBI).

It was a very nice catch.  I'm not quite sure if it would have gone over the fence or hit off the top of the wall had he not caught it.  

The best thing about that was that it was opposite field power.  I don't know if O'Hearn is as pull-happy as I initially expected him to be.  

[baltfan]

O’Hearn is strong.  He has lots of balls that it seems like he squares up but because the launch angle is a little low don’t quite go out.  We will see, but I think he might actually be real and capable of a high 800 OPS

[LA2]

13 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

It was a very nice catch.  I'm not quite sure if it would have gone over the fence or hit off the top of the wall had he not caught it.  

The best thing about that was that it was opposite field power.  I don't know if O'Hearn is as pull-happy as I initially expected him to be.  

The announcers and MLB.com, which titled it a "homer-robbing snag," were sure. And telling from J-Rod's ecstatic self-congratulation, he probably was too.

Edited June 25, 2023 by LA2

[LA2]

Continuing with the Lowenstein analogy:

O'Hearn's current batting average (.327) is very close to J-Low's season-final BA in 1982: .322. But if we look at Lowenstein's stats at the same number of at-bats (98, on June 5th, 50 games into the 1982 season*), it's stunning to see what type of year he was having: .337 / .427 / .725 / 1.152 with 11 HR, 3 Doubles, 26 RBI, 17 BB!

O'Hearn's comps: .327 / .362 / .582 / .944, with 6 HR, 7 Doubles, 20 RBI, 6 BB.

Other LH-hitting platoon players from the Weaver era to compare might include Jim Dwyer, Terry Crowley, and Pat Kelly. (The less strict, but successful Russ Snyder / Paul Blair platoon of glorious 1966 was under Hank Bauer.)

* When the Orioles were only 24-26, before going 70-42 the rest of the way to a 94-68 finish.

Edited June 25, 2023 by LA2

[ChosenOne21]

So I was looking at O'Hearn's lefty/righty splits and I saw something interesting.

As expected, his MLB stats versus LHP are a bloodbath, albeit in a small sample size: 169 PA, .170/.243/.261

HOWEVER

125 of those 169 were against left-handed starting pitchers, and in those 125 plate appearances he hit .243/.336/.449

What does this mean? Maybe nothing, as it's a small sample size, but it suggests that his issues with lefties might be mostly limited to left-handed relief pitchers. Maybe O'Hearn can adjust if he sees the same left-handed starter a few times, maybe he has trouble with left-handed velocity that you get from short-stint relievers.

This is at least some evidence he doesn't have to be a platoon player, although you'd probably want to pinch hit for him late in games if the other team brings in a lefty reliever. Maybe someone who's better at researching stats/splits can dig deeper.

[dystopia]

11 minutes ago, ChosenOne21 said:

So I was looking at O'Hearn's lefty/righty splits and I saw something interesting.

As expected, his MLB stats versus LHP are a bloodbath, albeit in a small sample size: 169 PA, .170/.243/.261

HOWEVER

125 of those 169 were against left-handed starting pitchers, and in those 125 plate appearances he hit .243/.336/.449

What does this mean? Maybe nothing, as it's a small sample size, but it suggests that his issues with lefties might be mostly limited to left-handed relief pitchers. Maybe O'Hearn can adjust if he sees the same left-handed starter a few times, maybe he has trouble with left-handed velocity that you get from short-stint relievers.

This is at least some evidence he doesn't have to be a platoon player, although you'd probably want to pinch hit for him late in games if the other team brings in a lefty reliever. Maybe someone who's better at researching stats/splits can dig deeper.

I think he deserves a shot against lefties with the way he's been hitting this year. He only has 4 ABs against lefties so far. All his bad numbers against them were when he was hitting .220 for the Royals. Hardly the same player we've seen this year.

[Bemorewins]

2 hours ago, LA2 said:

The announcers and MLB.com, which titled it a "homer-robbing snag," were sure. And telling from J-Rod's ecstatic self-congratulation, he probably was too.

I like that RO'H didn't just stand at the plate and admire the blast.

I was at yesterday’s game and positioned perfectly along the LF line to see JRod’s catch. It was definitely home run robbing for sure. It was a great catch and JRod was definitely (most understandably) very pumped afterward. But it was not as good as some of the media outlets were trying to call it/make it with the “catch of the year” label.