Ryan O'Hearn's hot bat fuels the Pittsburgh Pirates' early success, driving in runs and igniting a new-look lineup.
PITTSBURGH -- By extending a two-year, $29-million contract to Ryan O’Hearn this past offseason, the Pittsburgh Pirates demonstrated notable confidence by their standards.
O’Hearn became the first free agent signed to a multi-year contract by the Pirates since Ivan Nova during the 2016-17 offseason. Yes, almost a decade ago.
O’Hearn has certainly been worth the money through the first nine games of the season, hitting .367/.459/.700 with three home runs.
After a strong start, Pittsburgh is 6-3. The Pirates swept a three-game weekend series that concluded Sunday with an 8-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles at PNC Park. In the first two innings, O’Hearn drove in four runs, tying his career high, and sparked Pittsburgh to its fifth consecutive victory.
On a chilly Easter Sunday, the right fielder hit a two-run home run in the first inning to open the scoring. In the second, he added a two-run double, sparking a four-run inning as the Pirates extended the lead to 6-0.
Given his team-leading 11 RBIs, it would be fair to say O’Hearn has been the catalyst for Pittsburgh's hot start. Still, O’Hearn maintains he is just one cog in the offense.
“We've got a lot of good guys in here that do things the right way, and they work hard, and they get after it,” O’Hearn said. “But I'm just trying to go out and be myself and support my teammates and play hard. I think if we get a group of guys that go out there and compete and play hard every day, I think we're going to win a lot of games."
O'Hearn has 11 hits through his first eight games with Pittsburgh. He joined Reb Russell (11, 1922), Ed Stevens (13, 1948), Dick Stuart (11, 1958), and Reggie Sanders (11, 2003) as the only Pirates (since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920) with at least 11 RBIs through their first eight games with the team. O'Hearn is the only player among that group with at least 11 hits in his first eight games.
O'Hearn has also reached base safely multiple times in seven of his first eight games with Pittsburgh. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, he joined Ed Mensor (eight, 1912), Billy Southworth (seven, 1918), Possum Whitted (seven, 1919), Gus Suhr (eight, 1930), Dixie Walker Jr. (seven, 1948) and Brian Giles (seven, 1999) as the only Pirates since at least 1900 to reach base safely multiple times in at least seven of their first eight games with the franchise.
The Pirates went 71-91 last season, finishing last in the National League Central, and also ranked last in the majors in both runs scored and home runs.
Along with O’Hearn, Pittsburgh traded for second baseman Brandon Lowe from the Tampa Bay Rays and signed free agent designated hitter Marcell Ozuna during the offseason. As a result, the new-look Pirates' lineup has produced five runs per game and 12 home runs.
O’Hearn sees the transformation, saying, “I didn't play for the Pirates last year. I know that the offense wasn't great, but this is a completely new team with a completely new lineup. Forget about whatever happened in the last few years. I don't care about that. This team is a good team. I'm excited to show up to work every day and go to battle with these guys.”
Pirates manager Don Kelly shares that excitement about O’Hearn’s early impact.
“Hugely important,” Kelly said. "When you're talking about the way he goes about it, the pitches that he sees, how he attacks every single at-bat. When he's up there, he is not going to back down. It doesn't matter what the situation is, he's going to attack every single at-bat with focus.”
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