The Baltimore Orioles have avoided arbitration with first baseman Ryan O'Hearn, the club announced Wednesday.
O'Hearn signed a new, short-term deal with Baltimore, which according to MLB insider Mark Feinsand, will pay him $3.5 million this season before the club will have a $7.5 million option for 2025. Feinsand reported that O'Hearn, if the Orioles decided to pick up the option, would have $500,000 escalators in 2025 for playing 120 and 150 games that season.
Full terms of Ryan O’Hearn’s deal, per source:
2024: $3,500,000
2025: $7,500,000 club option (no buyout)Escalators for 2025 club option:
120 games: $500,000
150 games: $500,000— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) February 14, 2024
After spending the first five years of his MLB career with the Kansas City Royals, O'Hearn joined the Orioles for the 2023 season, during which he batted a career-high .289 and posted the second-best OBP, SLG, and OPS of his career. Additionally, he posted the highest number of runs, hits, and RBI of his career. O'Hearn accumulated 38 home runs, 131 RBI, and batted .219 in his five seasons with the Royals.
O'Hearn began the season batting at or near the end of the order, but he eventually became the team's cleanup hitter starting in June. The next month, the Orioles chased down and passed the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the AL East, which Baltimore managed to hold on to for its first division title in nearly a decade. In the postseason, the Orioles lost in a three-game sweep in the ALDS to the Texas Rangers, the eventual World Series champions.
Expectations for the Orioles, who fielded one of the youngest rosters in MLB last year, will be greater in 2024 after posting their first 100-win season since 1980.
O'Hearn's 2024 salary will be more than double what he made last season, so more will be expected of him as well. He will turn 31 during the season, but having just played the best season of his career, he and Baltimore should be confident he will be well worth the money.
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