MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 There is a long way to go before the three-year contract given to Tyler O\u2019Neill before the 2025 season is seen in a positive light, and it\u2019s possible the dismal displays of last season have already rendered that impossible.<\/p>\n
There are, at least, signs of life for the Orioles outfielder where there were almost none during an injury-riddled 2025 and a challenging start to this season. Look at what the 31-year-old has done over the last few months, and maybe, just maybe, there\u2019s reason to believe in this right-handed bat.<\/p>\n
The Orioles don\u2019t have much choice but to believe in him. He\u2019s here on a guaranteed $49.5 million contract, and after trading away outfielder Taylor Ward, Baltimore will lean on O\u2019Neill more heavily for right-handed thump.<\/p>\n
What the Orioles are seeing of late is one of the few bright spots in a difficult campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know what he\u2019s capable of and, obviously, injuries have kind of screwed that up a little bit, but it\u2019s been unbelievable at-bats,\u201d shortstop Gunnar Henderson said. \u201cCouldn\u2019t be happier for him. We know what kind of hitter he is and what he can do, and I\u2019m just glad to see it start to come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill hasn\u2019t fully dug himself out of the hole he built by the end of May.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was obviously very dark in the start of the season,\u201d he said, and he\u2019s right. He recorded six hits that month in 22 games, and his season on-base-plus-slugging percentage rested at a lowly .498.<\/p>\n
There was really only one way to go from there: up. And O\u2019Neill has.<\/p>\n
Entering Wednesday, 12 Orioles players had made at least 100 plate appearances since June. O\u2019Neill\u2019s numbers were the third best in that span. His production is even better in the smaller sample of July onward. Ten Orioles players had received 60 or more plate appearances from July to Wednesday. <\/p>\n
None was better than O\u2019Neill.<\/p>\n
Entering Wednesday, his OPS since July was a team-best 1.023. His eight home runs helped carry that, but O\u2019Neill also hit for average (.284) and was tied with Coby Mayo for the second-most RBIs (14) in that span.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing from T.O. is he\u2019s getting into good counts to hit in, and when you\u2019re not chasing, now you\u2019re forcing the pitcher to get in the strike zone,\u201d manager Craig Albernaz said. \u201cIt\u2019s easier said than done, and you also have to put a good swing on it and get barrel to it, and that\u2019s what T.O.\u2019s doing. He\u2019s doing a really good job of simplifying what he\u2019s trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill was hesitant to dive into the particulars of his mechanics for this story, likely due to a touch of superstition that is prevalent in most players. But the biggest piece of it is obvious: He is getting his front foot down early, which gives him more time to catch up to a fastball while also maintaining balance to adjust to off-speed offerings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think I\u2019m landing in a balanced position, which allows my mechanics to work,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cWhen I have trust in my mechanics and I can see the ball, I\u2019m not worried about making a move or something.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill has been a force before in his major league career. He hit 34 homers in 2021 with the St. Louis Cardinals and 31 in 2024 for the Boston Red Sox. But injuries have been a major part of his story. He was held to 54 games last year and finished with a .684 OPS, the lowest of his career.<\/p>\n
Now his average is up to .216 and his OPS is .702 \u2014 a significant rebound from earlier depths.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew things were going to turn around eventually,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cI knew I had a pretty bad May when I came back from the concussion. Things just weren\u2019t going my way. Things just didn\u2019t feel right in the box. But it was a matter of time before getting those reps and getting back into game action for things to turn around.\u201d <\/p>\n
With Ward out of the equation, Baltimore has leaned on O\u2019Neill even more of late. He has played all 12 games since the trade deadline passed.<\/p>\n
Regular at-bats are a necessary feature for a player to find a rhythm, and O\u2019Neill now has those for two reasons \u2014 he\u2019s healthy, and the roster construction opened with the Ward trade. It may be a footnote in a losing season, but O\u2019Neill\u2019s upturn is encouraging, nonetheless.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was always that confidence in me and myself, and I think any good player should have confidence in themselves and what they\u2019ve done in the past,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cI\u2019ve proven myself at the big league level, I know what I\u2019m capable of, and earlier, like I said, it was just a matter of time before I would get an opportunity to go out there and get some consecutive at-bats.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 There is a long way to go before the three-year contract given to Tyler O\u2019Neill before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,39604,47,2538,5,4,23849,125],"class_list":["post-777672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-city","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-opacy","tag-orioles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117088577375390732","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777672","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=777672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}