Pirates’ Ryan O’Hearn Nearing a Return From the Injured List

There are several reasons the Pittsburgh Pirates fell out of the playoff race in the second half of the season.

One factor has undoubtedly been the number of injuries to impact players that Pittsburgh has had to navigate over the last six weeks, including Ryan O’Hearn.

Pittsburgh’s veteran slugger was added to the injured list on August 1 with a left quad strain, his second hamstring issue of the 2026 season. Since then, the Pirates have gone 16-17 and are now 5.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot.

The good news is that O’Hearn is nearing a return. O’Hearn will start a rehab assignment at Triple-A on Tuesday evening, opening up his window to return to the field. He bats second and is playing first base for the Indianapolis Indians.

It remains to be seen exactly what boxes O’Hearn must check off in his rehab, but a return is clearly on the horizon if he’s playing at the Minor League level.

Since he’s already been participating in some baseball activities, O’Hearn could be back on the field at some point during the team’s road trip to Chicago to face the Cubs first, then the White Sox.

O’Hearn has been just about as advertised in his first year in Pittsburgh after signing a two-year deal over the offseason. The Pirates hoped the veteran could be a steady bat in the lineup, and O’Hearn has largely been just that, logging a .270/.334/.454 slash line, including 17 home runs.

Considering that the Pirates own a team .650 OPS over the last 30 days, which ranks 27th in baseball, they need all the help they can get from the plate right now.

The bad news is that, even if the Pirates get O’Hearn back before the season is over and he picks up right where he left off at the plate, there are still no guarantees that he alone will help the Pirates break their playoff drought.

For example, even though Pittsburgh won their series over the weekend, their postseason chances actually dropped.

At the very least, knowing that O’Hearn is healthy going into the offseason, whether Pittsburgh stuns everyone and makes the playoffs or not, will be something the Pirates can build on going into the winter.