Why Ryan O’Hearn Must Go (Sorry, Ryan)

[Just Regular]

6 minutes ago, Since1984 said:

According to fa graphs, Mountcastle has two options remaining. If Ryan M. struggles, next man up!

Heh heh.   He already wears the badge of 2019 International League MVP who wasn't quite good enough to make the '20 Orioles opening day roster.

I'd joked if Coby Mayo was exclusively 3B and outplayed Jordan Westburg could he just earn that job, but maybe similar deal over at 1B.    Westburg is Elias' guy and Mountcastle is not.

It was only recently I learned after 5.000 service time options kind of vanish, but Mountcastle isn't there yet.

[Since1984]

16 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Heh heh.   He already wears the badge of 2019 International League MVP who wasn't quite good enough to make the '20 Orioles opening day roster.

I'd joked if Coby Mayo was exclusively 3B and outplayed Jordan Westburg could he just earn that job, but maybe similar deal over at 1B.    Westburg is Elias' guy and Mountcastle is not.

It was only recently I learned after 5.000 service time options kind of vanish, but Mountcastle isn't there yet.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how things continue to shake out the next two years.

The O’s need a 40  man trade partner or three, like the Dodgers and Yankees make out!

Elias did have that type of pairing with the Angels, maybe a little with the Marlins and now Detroit?

I would make sure Mounty is up for any Blue Jays series this coming year!

[sportsfan8703]

The thread title was too funny not to bump after this atrocious play in RF by O’Hearn. Especially after Santa ran into that same wall full force yesterday. 

[clapdiddy]

I know it was mentioned in another thread, but why do they put this guy in the outfield?   I'm not a professional scout, but anyone who's watched him play in the outfield can see that he's just not very good out there.  He should be relegated to 1B/DH and that's it.

[waroriole]

OHearn doesn’t need to go, but he needs to be used appropriately. Why are we so concerned about getting his bat in the lineup? He’s fine as a PH bat for now, but we don’t need to put him in RF to find ABs for him. 

[Sports Guy]

I’m perfectly fine with OHearn being here. I don’t think you just ignore that batted ball data and I don’t think he has much value in trade (or didn’t in the offseason)

He has value and you don’t just drop him. 

That said, he does directly take a spot away from Kjerstad and he does take at bats away from Cowser.

I have been talking about this for a while but the idea of “how young is too young” and how many of these “kids” do you want up at the same time when you are trying to win.  
 

The other side to that is that you have vet players that are given a lot of at bats that perhaps shouldn’t be getting as many as they are.

Im not saying the roster was put together poorly because that’s definitely not the case. But I also don’t feel a balance was done and there is too much reliance by Elias and Hyde to make sure all the depth was kept and to play those vets more than they should.

There isn’t much you can do right now. It would be foolish to drop anyone, trades aren’t going to happen right now and thankfully everyone is healthy for the time being.

But decisions are going to have to be made and soon. We can’t ignore the talent and production of the group of 5 in AAA and we can’t ignore the idea that all of them should be in the majors.

The Cowser talk is that he better produce in his limited chances if he wants to get more chances and while I agree with the idea in theory, I also feel it’s a little unfair if the playing time is scattered.

However, if they also apply the same logic to the vets, I’m good with it..but they won’t.

The concept of “they have done it before” is going to be the counter and the reality is, it’s not wrong. However, the level to “they have done it before” does need to be considered.  
 

For me, as of right now and based off of my season long expectations, of the vet guys, Mountcastle and Santander are the 2 players I would play the most.

OHearn would get occasional (say 1-2 times a week) starts and get a lot of PH opportunities and Hays would be more in the platoon type role but still playing a lot. In 5 games, he has 3 starts and Cowser has 1. That should be flip flopped imo or, at least, 2-2.

Also, for a team that values defense, I’m not sure why we don’t see (and maybe we will, I’m just talking in the early going here) Hays in LF and Cowser in RF, with Santander DH’ing. Santander plays an adequate OF but Cowser(made some nice plays last night btw) is better.  Hopefully we see some of that going forward too.

[CaptainRedbeard]

How can a team that has 4 top prospects stuck in AAA in large part for defensive development reasons (Holliday, Mayo, Kjerstad, Norby), and one fully baked and perfectly acceptable natural corner OF who has long since graduated AAA (Stowers), be playing Ryan O’Hearn in RF? On the 5th game of the season with no injuries?

Absolutely incomprehensible cognitive dissonance. Ryan O’Hearn starting in RF while Kjerstad and Stowers, actual RFs, together hit 3 HR in AAA on the same day.

 

[CaptainRedbeard]

I don’t really object to having O’Hearn on the roster instead of Kjerstad and Stowers, I think they’re all comparable hitters right now and Kjerstad can still benefit from AAA playing time given all the time he missed with injuries to start in his career. But if they are planning on using that roster spot in any way as an OF, it should be on a player that actually plays the outfield. Or even more simply, only give Santander a DH day when both Hays and Cowser are playing.

I don’t even want to think about Kemp getting a start in the OF. It’s going to happen at some point.

[maybenxtyr]

O'Hearn has a purpose on this team... playing RF is not it. He looks "choppy" even on balls hit where he doesn't have to move a lot. Keep him relegated to 1B and DH and let him hit. It really shouldn't be any more complicated than that.

[justD]

32 minutes ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

How can a team that has 4 top prospects stuck in AAA in large part for defensive development reasons (Holliday, Mayo, Kjerstad, Norby), and one fully baked and perfectly acceptable natural corner OF who has long since graduated AAA (Stowers), be playing Ryan O’Hearn in RF? On the 5th game of the season with no injuries?

Absolutely incomprehensible cognitive dissonance. Ryan O’Hearn starting in RF while Kjerstad and Stowers, actual RFs, together hit 3 HR in AAA on the same day.

 

Keep the young position players in AAA where they rake, and perhaps you can still get a bite or two in trade talks for ML pitching.  Bring them up and expose their flaws and you risk having trade value diminish significantly.

I think it’s as simple as that. 

[RZNJ]

15 minutes ago, maybenxtyr said:

O'Hearn has a purpose on this team... playing RF is not it. He looks "choppy" even on balls hit where he doesn't have to move a lot. Keep him relegated to 1B and DH and let him hit. It really shouldn't be any more complicated than that.

Pretty much agree but I would love to know the catch probability on that ball.  I was on gamefeed on Savant and don’t see that category per game.  O’Hearn looked like he got a good jump and took a decent angle.  He looked awkward going up for the ball like he thought he was about to hit the wall BUT I’d like to see how many RF actually catch that one.  Can anyone tell us or point out how to find the catch probability on that triple?

[Sanfran327]

3 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Pretty much agree but I would love to know the catch probability on that ball.  I was on gamefeed on Savant and don’t see that category per game.  O’Hearn looked like he got a good jump and took a decent angle.  He looked awkward going up for the ball like he thought he was about to hit the wall BUT I’d like to see how many RF actually catch that one.  Can anyone tell us or point out how to find the catch probability on that triple?

FWIW, and this is definitely not data driven, but Santa's catch the night before was on the CF side of that corner and he got to it without too much drama. And that's the difference between a real OFer and a guy moonlighting as one. 

[maybenxtyr]

4 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Pretty much agree but I would love to know the catch probability on that ball.  I was on gamefeed on Savant and don’t see that category per game.  O’Hearn looked like he got a good jump and took a decent angle.  He looked awkward going up for the ball like he thought he was about to hit the wall BUT I’d like to see how many RF actually catch that one.  Can anyone tell us or point out how to find the catch probability on that triple?

He was definitely in time for the catch, he just misjudged his proximity to the wall.

 

I like him as a player, but I don't like seeing him being miscast in a position that he's really not suited for.

[RZNJ]

3 minutes ago, Sanfran327 said:

FWIW, and this is definitely not data driven, but Santa's catch the night before was on the CF side of that corner and he got to it without too much drama. And that's the difference between a real OFer and a guy moonlighting as one. 

I prefer the data driven.  If Santander was positioned where O’Hearn was last night would he have made that catch?  I’m not so sure.   According to 2023 Savant, O’Hearn is significantly (27.7 to 26.7) faster than Santander.   

[RZNJ]

7 minutes ago, maybenxtyr said:

He was definitely in time for the catch, he just misjudged his proximity to the wall.

 

I like him as a player, but I don't like seeing him being miscast in a position that he's really not suited for.

I think it would have been a great catch if he made t but that is why I would like to see the catch probability.