Ryan O’Hearn 2024

[Yossarian]

Maybe it's just recency bias,  but it seems O'Hearn has been on the wrong end of a lot of questionable strike calls in the last month, or so.   These have either been strike 3 calls, or calls that put him in pitcher's counts.  He has been a pro all year and was a great addition to this team.

[Tony-OH]

With all the young players coming up and the fact that O'Hearn was basically a waiver claim (purchased from the Royals), he gets overlooked by fans a bit, but what he's become is remarkably consistent. At basically the same amount of PAs (381 vs 368 last year), the lefty swinger has the exact same .801 OPS but with offense down this year, that gives him a 131 OP+ vs a 122 in last year.

Now his power is down a little from last year, but his walks are up and his strike outs are down, so it appears he's trying to work getting on base more than power.

And while he hasn't played a lot in RF, he's actually been pretty good out there with a 2 OAA, both on balls coming in and has a 3-star catch going back to his left. The worse balls that he did catch were two 4-star catches at 45% and 50% catch probability. Basically he catches everything that he should. Now his -3.5 ft/sec jump and 29.7 ft/sec is nothing to write home about which tells us if he did play out there more regularly I'd imagine that OAA would go down. His arm is a weak out there and he hasn't thrown anyone out, but runners are taking bases on him liberally.

Now he's not a very good defensive 1st baseman though he won't kill the team out there. 

Overall though, when you look at his statcast leaderboard, he's having another solid season.

[Frobby]

Yep, I had concerns O’Hearn would turn into a pumpkin this year, and that definitely didn’t happen. I’m always happy to see him at the plate in a key situation.  

[sportsfan8703]

.647 OPS in August. 

We’ve been getting nothing from 1B/DH, and Adley, this month. 

[Sports Guy]

For most of this season, I thought it was a foregone conclusion that we would pick up OHearn’s 7.5M option and keep him for next year.

Is that still the case?  While he has been “worth” 11M this year, he has really struggled since the AS break.

His statcast page is still good but not as good as last year. He is doing a good job of making contact and not striking out a lot. His Bb rate is also way up.

In his last 150 PA, dating back to late July, he has a 229/318/321 slash line.  The OBP isn’t bad but the slugging is terrible. He has only hit one homer in that span, to go with 7 doubles and a triple. His defense isn’t good and he continues to be a liability vs lefties.

He’s probably worth keeping around as a strong side platoon but the Os are going to have to create at bats for younger higher upside guys.

If Kjerstad is kept, they need to find at bats for him. They need to find at bats for Basallo, who could be up next year (although not to start).

I think Santander is gone, which likely means there is a place for OHearn and I won’t be upset if he’s back but the teams need to get a little more right handed and to find spots for the young bats could impact him.

[Aristotelian]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

For most of this season, I thought it was a foregone conclusion that we would pick up OHearn’s 7.5M option and keep him for next year.

Is that still the case?  While he has been “worth” 11M this year, he has really struggled since the AS break.

His statcast page is still good but not as good as last year. He is doing a good job of making contact and not striking out a lot. His Bb rate is also way up.

In his last 150 PA, dating back to late July, he has a 229/318/321 slash line.  The OBP isn’t bad but the slugging is terrible. He has only hit one homer in that span, to go with 7 doubles and a triple. His defense isn’t good and he continues to be a liability vs lefties.

He’s probably worth keeping around as a strong side platoon but the Os are going to have to create at bats for younger higher upside guys.

If Kjerstad is kept, they need to find at bats for him. They need to find at bats for Basallo, who could be up next year (although not to start).

I think Santander is gone, which likely means there is a place for OHearn and I won’t be upset if he’s back but the teams need to get a little more right handed and to find spots for the young bats could impact him.

Just seems like this lineup cannot fire on all cylinders at once. Maybe they drop him down in the lineup for a while. I think he would have to really suck for us to pass on the option... but he has been really sucking for a while now. If the past is a pattern, they will keep him just because they like depth and injuries happen. Any time you can find value you take it. 

[Sports Guy]

Just now, Aristotelian said:

Just seems like this lineup cannot fire on all cylinders at once. Maybe they drop him down in the lineup for a while. I think he would have to really suck for us to pass on the option... but he has been really sucking for a while now. If the past is a pattern, they will keep him just because they like depth and injuries happen. Any time you can find value you take it. 

And I question that he has much trade value. And I don’t think you just let him go without getting any value back but I think it’s at least possible now, which I didn’t think would be the case.

[Just Regular]

He has attained the 120 game escalator and is mathematically eliminated from reaching the 150 game one, so the 2025 option is up to 1/8.

[Safelykept]

30 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Just seems like this lineup cannot fire on all cylinders at once. Maybe they drop him down in the lineup for a while. I think he would have to really suck for us to pass on the option... but he has been really sucking for a while now. If the past is a pattern, they will keep him just because they like depth and injuries happen. Any time you can find value you take it. 

Very concerning 2nd half slump. another one that needs to get it going. Mullins looks like He's back though. Need some help from Adley as well.

[milbest77]

I started calling him Ryan O’Rallykiller

[Frobby]

Things have been pretty tough for O’Hearn since Mountcastle got hurt.  In 17 games (14 starts) he’s hit .182/.237/.291.  He also made three errors last week, after making only two all season previously.  A couple of them were in critical situations, too.

He’s swinging outside the zone more than before, and missing some very hittable pitches.  You can see he’s pressing.  

[Aglets]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Things have been pretty tough for O’Hearn since Mountcastle got hurt.  In 17 games (14 starts) he’s hit .182/.237/.291.  He also made three errors last week, after making only two all season previously.  A couple of them were in critical situations, too.

He’s swinging outside the zone more than before, and missing some very hittable pitches.  You can see he’s pressing.  

Guess the bit of good news here is that kjerstad is looking good on his rehab assignment so far and can replace O'Hearn's bat in the lineup.  Not sure who is going to play first base though.........

[Brooks The Great]

32 minutes ago, Aglets said:

Guess the bit of good news here is that kjerstad is looking good on his rehab assignment so far and can replace O'Hearn's bat in the lineup.  Not sure who is going to play first base though.........

Santander. Put Kjerstad in RF and have Mayo DH every day. 

[Aristotelian]

3 minutes ago, Brooks The Great said:

Santander. Put Kjerstad in RF and have Mayo DH every day. 

Is Santander likely to be any better than Mayo, who has actually played the position? I wonder how much longer Mountcastle is going to be out. 

[gtman55]

O'hearn needs a few days off. Put Mayo over there and let's see what the kid has.