{"id":491397,"date":"2025-12-23T22:35:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T22:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/491397\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T22:35:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T22:35:17","slug":"what-to-make-of-move-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/491397\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Make of Move"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Another power-hitting lefty has a chance to do damage in PNC Park this upcoming season. Former Orioles 1B\/OF Ryan O\u2019Hearn has reportedly agreed to join the Pirates on a two-year deal, fortifying their lineup for the 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n<p>A Look at O\u2019Hearn<\/p>\n<p>The Baltimore Orioles picked up <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/o\/ohearry01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Ryan O\u2019Hearn<\/a>, the former Royal who had a good 2018 season after he belted 12 home runs in 44 games but failed to stick afterwards, in a cash trade with Kansas City nearly three years ago. Adding O\u2019Hearn proved to be a boon for the Orioles.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hearn was a steady, valuable platoon hitter for the Orioles\u2019 playoff-bound teams between 2023 and 2024. The 1B\/OF hit 29 combined home runs in those seasons, showcasing the ability to drive the ball with strength. However, O\u2019Hearn\u2019s best season came this past year, one that saw him become an All-Star.<\/p>\n<p>He slashed .283\/.374\/.463 with 13 home runs and 29 extra-base hits for the Orioles. Baltimore ultimately shipped him to San Diego with <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/laurera01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Ramon Laureano<\/a> as part of a massive trade with the Padres. O\u2019Hearn slashed .276\/.350\/.387 across 50 games with San Diego.<\/p>\n<p>His 10.7% cumulative BB% ranked as the 60th-best in the Majors this past season, out of the 242 batters who amassed at least 350 plate appearances. His .349 wOBA ranked as the 50th-best in the Majors under that criteria.<\/p>\n<p>The new Pirate isn\u2019t a big swinger by any means. While he does have plenty of power and makes consistent, solid contact, O\u2019Hearn has never been a swing-and-miss player. O\u2019Hearn has a shorter-than-average swing by Major League standards and routinely catches up to fastballs.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ryan-OHearn-Whiff-YtY-2023-25.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-51358\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.500033482890243;width:669px;height:auto\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>And while the short right field porch in Baltimore was his friend, O\u2019Hearn showed the ability to take the ball to all fields. O\u2019Hearn posted a sub-40% Pull% in each of his last three seasons.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"654\" height=\"368\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cU82OTRfWGw0TUFRPT1fVlFKV0JWUUNCRkFBQUZFREFnQUhDVmRTQUZoWFUxQUFBbDBIVlFBRkExRUVBVmND.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-51360\" style=\"width:657px;height:auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hearn has largely been a productive hitter against right-handed pitching over the years.  The 32-year-old posted an OPS above .770 in each of the last three years against right-handed pitching. He also put up a decent slash line of .278\/.358\/.474 with three home runs and 12 extra-base hits over 109 plate appearances.<\/p>\n<p>The Orioles largely shielded him against left-handed pitching throughout his tenure.<\/p>\n<p>Defensively, O\u2019Hearn is more of a first baseman. O\u2019Hearn played 75 games at first base this past season and ranked very well as far as Outs Above Average (+6) was concerned. He also received a considerable amount of time in left and right field with both the Royals and Orioles.<\/p>\n<p>His arm strength ranked low by Major League standards, as his average of 72.2 MPH ranked in the bottom 5% of the league.<\/p>\n<p>Per reports, the Pirates will sign Ryan O\u2019Hearn to a two-year deal worth close to $30MM.<\/p>\n<p>Analysis<\/p>\n<p>The Pirates continue to add in what\u2019s been an eventful offseason for Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the Pirates <a href=\"https:\/\/newbaseballmedia.com\/pirates-to-acquire-brandon-lowe-what-to-make-of-3-team-trade\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">brought<\/a> in <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lowebr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Brandon Lowe<\/a>, plus reliever <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/montgma01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Mason Montgomery<\/a> and outfielder <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/manguja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Jake Mangum<\/a>, as part of a big three-way trade. Before then, the Pirates brought in former Red Sox outfield prospect <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/garcijh01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Jhostynxon Garcia<\/a> in that <a href=\"https:\/\/newbaseballmedia.com\/red-sox-to-acquire-johan-oviedo-from-pirates-what-to-make-of-move\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">trade<\/a> that sent <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/o\/oviedjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Johan Oviedo<\/a> to Boston.<\/p>\n<p>This upcoming season is a big one for the Pirates. Pittsburgh\u2019s starting rotation, between <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/skenepa01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Paul Skenes<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/chandbu01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Bubba Chandler<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kellemi03.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Mitch Keller<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/ashcrbr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Braxton Ashcraft<\/a>, etc. has the depth to be competitive for a playoff spot. However, the offense for the Pirates was not all that productive.<\/p>\n<p>Adding O\u2019Hearn and Lowe makes the Pirates\u2019 lineup considerably better on paper. Rather than leaning on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cruzon01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Oneil Cruz<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reynobr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\">Bryan Reynolds<\/a> to drive in runs \u2014 a strategy that didn\u2019t work too well last season \u2014 the Pirates now have depth. Particularly, when it comes to left-handed hitting.<\/p>\n<p>The Pirates can now add O\u2019Hearn, who can get on base and drive the ball with authority, and Lowe to a lineup that also includes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/horwisp01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=newbaseballmedia.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Spencer Horwitz<\/a>, who had a good first season in Western Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>Check out more of our <a href=\"https:\/\/newbaseballmedia.com\/category\/mlb\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB<\/a> coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Like this:<\/p>\n<p>Like Loading\u2026<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another power-hitting lefty has a chance to do damage in PNC Park this upcoming season. Former Orioles 1B\/OF&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,2538,5,47236,4,125,43,10,626],"class_list":{"0":"post-491397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-orioles","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-orioles","10":"tag-baltimoreorioles","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-frontpagenews","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-orioles","15":"tag-padres","16":"tag-pirates","17":"tag-ryan-ohearn"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115771272521494912","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}