Article: Ryan O'Hearn Could Fix the Red Sox's First Base Problem

[Alex Mayes]

Steve Perrault of Section 10 and Bleacher Report's Walk-Off hosted a live stream over the weekend where he connected the Red Sox to Orioles’ first baseman Ryan O’Hearn. Perrault said, “A little birdie told me that the Red Sox are very interested in getting O’Hearn from the Orioles and that the price might not be as high as some folks might think.”

The perfect role for Ryan O’Hearn in Boston would be working in a first base platoon role with Romy Gonzalez. Yes, the team has Abraham Toro, and he has played mostly well, but he’s come down to earth a ton over the last few weeks and his walk rate, 5.9%, leaves a ton to be desired. Replacing him with O’Hearn in the platoon would be a net positive for the Red Sox, especially since O’Hearn’s splits are less than ideal. Against right-handed pitching this season, O’Hearn is slashing .291/.377/.489 with all of his home runs (12) coming against them. Against lefties, he’s slashing just .216/.322/.275. His hard hit percentage drops from 51.3% against righties to 33.3% against southpaws. That sounds like the absolute perfect match to platoon with Romy Gonzalez who, as we all know, absolutely mashes lefties. Toro has been a fine platoon partner that allows Gonzalez to play all over the infield, but he’s settled into being a replacement-level option and adding someone like O’Hearn solidifies the first base position as the team pushes toward the postseason. 

O’Hearn’s power profile plays very well at Fenway Park as well. Eight of his 12 home runs have come at home this season. If we overlay his spray chart on Fenway Park, we see that he would add five to six more home runs to his stat line (assuming he played every game in Boston). While Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela have upped their offensive firepower, the Sox are still missing a fence-clearing threat that sits somewhere around fifth or sixth in the lineup. Roman Anthony will find his power, as will Marcelo Mayer, but adding in Ryan O’Hearn would help take some of the pressure off the shoulders of everyone around him. Being able to add a few more home runs at home for the remainder of the season would hopefully mean that the Sox don’t find themselves dropping those one-run games they were so prone to doing at the onset of the season. 

O’Hearn isn’t the typical player you’d see the Red Sox swing a trade for given his divisional proximity, but he’s the exact type of win-now player the team can trade for to ensure their spot in the postseason is protected. He’s got power, plays an above average first base, and give Alex Cora some flexibility at the DH spot. He’d be a cheap addition that brings some All-Star-level talent to the offensive on an almost-daily basis. 

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