O's O'Hearn on All-Star chance: "10 year-old me wouldn’t believe it if I told him I had a chance to be an All-Star"

O'Hearn is AL leader in voting for the DH spot

BALTIMORE - Ryan O’Hearn, a player the Orioles acquired on Jan. 3, 2023 and designated for assignment two days later, could, next month, be an American League All-Star.

As he said, this would be a story of “never giving up on yourself.”

It was Dec. 28, 2022 when the Kansas City Royals DFAd O’Hearn. In parts of five seasons with that club he hit .219 with an OPS of .683 for an OPS+ of 83 or 17 percent below league average.

On the O’s watch, he has turned into a starting player, a middle-of-the-order hitter and now, maybe next, an All-Star. With the O’s over three seasons he has hit .282 with an OPS of .799 for an OPS+ of 127, well above average.

Just days after Kansas City cut him loose back in late 2022, the O’s traded for him, sending “cash considerations” to the Royals on Jan. 3, 2023. Two days later, needing a roster spot after adding Lewin Diaz on waivers, the O’s DFA’d O’Hearn. Any club could have him but he cleared waivers and the O’s sent him outright to Triple-A on Jan. 12, 2023.

He had at least stayed in the organization.

Then, during that 2023 season, he would make it to Baltimore April 13, go back to the minors May 3, come back to the majors May 9 and he’s been here ever since. Before the 2024 season, the club signed him to avoid arbitration and after that season they picked up his $7.5 million option for this year.

Before Monday’s game with Texas, I asked O’Hearn if he had seen that he was leading in the All-Star voting for the AL at DH?

“The Orioles tagged me in a thing that said I was in first place, so yes,” he said in the clubhouse.

Now the one-time fringe major leaguer could take the field with the best in the game on July 15 in Atlanta.

“It would mean everything, man. Well, I don’t want to say everything because winning a World Series would mean a lot more,” O’Hearn said. “But as far as personal achievement goes, when I was a kid, at least for me, I would watch the All-Star game. Watch the Home Run Derby. Multiple All-Star games come to mind and I always thought, man those guys are the best of the best.

“And 10 year-old me wouldn’t believe it if I told him I had a chance to be a Major League All-Star. So, it means a lot.

“And just reflecting on the journey I have had in this game, to have an accolade like that would be really cool. A story of perseverance and what can happen if you never give up on yourself. So, yeah, it would mean a lot for sure.”

When he was trying to just hang onto a roster spot in Kansas City, this was not even a thought for him. In fact, he agreed that thought then would been ludicrous.

“Yes. Without a doubt. It would be ridiculous. Pipe dream,” said O’Hearn.

But it’s not that now.

“Wild. Wild. I think about it a lot. It would definitely be crazy if that happened. I don’t want to get my hopes up. Kind of went through this deal a little bit last year. Maybe not as close as last year. But until it actually happens, I am going to hold my excitement as much as possible.”

O’Hearn, who has a career-best average and OPS of .289 and .801 before this year, has taken his offense to its highest-level yet this season. Through Sunday, over 65 games, he is hitting .305/.387/.480/.867. That OPS was 10th-best in the AL.

In All-Star voting released yesterday, O’Hearn had pulled 937,205 votes to stay well ahead of the New York Yankees’ Ben Rice with 409,336. Phase one voting ends Thursday and then the two finalists go to the next round and the voting starts over at zero.

The leading vote getter from that round will start at DH for the AL.

O’Hearn’s selection to the All-Star team would be incredibly popular in the Baltimore clubhouse and probably all throughout Birdland.

They know his story and how far he has come.

In fact O’Hearn cited this MASNSports.com story where his teammates discussed what it would mean to see him make the team.

Said Gunner Henderson: “He’s 1,000 percent deserving … really cool to see where he is now through the journey that he’s had in baseball.”

Yep, so many are rooting hard for O’Hearn.

“Amazing,” he said of the support both inside of and outside of the O’s clubhouse. “Just to have my teammates say nice things about it and they think I should be an All-Star, read the (MASN) article, which is very cool. You know to have your peers have quotes like that about you I think is maybe the greatest honor. And obviously the fans for having my back. People voted for me. It’s surreal and you know, just very humbled.”

Always a team-first guy, O’Hearn is glad the Orioles are finally playing better baseball. Always positive and upbeat, of course he is going to feel they can still play October baseball in 2025.

“It definitely feels good that we have been playing better baseball the last few weeks. Hopefully that just builds the confidence of the guys in here. We expect to win when we show up and play. There is a long way to go before the trade deadline. There is a chance. It’s in our grasp,” the possible future All-Star said.

Rogers was dealing and O’s get a shutout

The Orioles beat Texas 6-0 in the homestand opener Monday night as lefty Trevor Rogers allowed three hits over eight scoreless. It was the longest outing by an Oriole this year and his career longest.

Rogers, who earned his first win since July 26, 2024, became the first Oriole to complete at least eight innings in the regular season since Kyle Bradish on Sept. 26, 2023 against Washington, going eight. Righty Corbin Burnes threw 8.0+ innings in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series versus Kansas City on Oct. 1, 2024.

Jackson Holliday produced an RBI double and three-run homer to tie his career-best with four RBIs. He had driven in four runs in the previous 21 games.

The O’s walked for the 156th consecutive game, setting the franchise record. The streak is the longest by an MLB team since the Giants, who had a 204-game stretch from July 6, 2002-Aug. 22, 2003.

The first pitch temperature of 100 degrees is the warmest in the big leagues this year and the warmest at Oriole Park since Sept. 29, 2012 vs. Cleveland (also 100), per STATS Perform.