SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Royals first baseman Ryan O'Hearn is aware that he scorched the ball last season. But he is also cognizant of the fact that the outcomes were not up to his level of expectation. With that in mind, he set out to work this offseason in order to ramp up his production.
“When you have a season like I did last year, I’m fortunate enough that the organization is giving me a chance to show that that’s not who I am,” said O'Hearn, who hit .195 across 105 games last season.
After making some offseason adjustments, the early in-game returns during Cactus League play have been promising. O’Hearn has mashed a club-leading five homers over his first 13 games -- No. 5 coming in Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Brewers.
“We did a lot of machine work,” O’Hearn said. “A lot of high-velo machine work that I hadn’t done so much in the past. I think that helps clean up and sweeten your swing a little bit.”
“Part of it is, he just has confidence,” manager Mike Matheny said. “It was going to happen sooner or later, where he’s having some things fall his way to where you have something to put confidence in.”
As defensive shifts have increased in frequency around the league, O’Hearn has been caught up in the rapture, as his numbers were stifled by the shift last season. When the shift was not employed in 2019, he posted a .311 weighted on-base average; but when it was, his wOBA dipped to a staggeringly low .244.
“The hard-hit rate was great last year, but I think there was far too many ground balls into the shift,” O’Hearn said. “That was a big thing, staying away from rolling over balls into the shift. Doesn’t matter how hard you hit it; there’s a guy in short right field, there’s however many fielders on that side of the field.”
During his 44-game stint with the club in 2018, O’Hearn produced a ground-ball rate of just 35.6 percent. But in his more extensive playing time last year, that number jumped to 48.1 percent.
While that mark sits only slightly above league average, O’Hearn all but deemed hitting ground balls anathema.
“Kind of gearing my swing and simplifying things, staying away from hitting the ball on the ground,” O’Hearn said of his time spent in the cage over the last few months. “But I still want to keep the same quality at-bats, keep the same hard-hit rate.”
O’Hearn produced a 43.7 percent hard-hit rate last year, which was nine percent above league average. Hitting the ball that hard consistently and finishing the season with a .195 batting average indicates a considerable amount of bad luck, which is further embodied by his .230 BABIP.
For recent precedent, former Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer similarly struggled in his second season of big league action, posting a .663 OPS, which was only slightly higher than O’Hearn’s .650 mark from last year. But whereas Hosmer quickly became entrenched as the team’s first baseman, O’Hearn has some stout competition to fend off, which Cactus League play has shown.
Right-handed-hitting Ryan McBroom figures to at least see his fair share of work over at first base during the regular season, as he entered play Tuesday leading the club with eight RBIs this spring.
The Royals scored the second-fewest runs in the American League last year (691), and if that number is to take a drastic upswing, the club will need O’Hearn’s hard-hitting left-handed power bat to do damage in the middle of the lineup.
“He’s got all the tools,” Matheny said. “He’s having a really nice spring and part of that is just building on some of the successes, but that’s a natural progression for a young player. I’m looking forward to watching him continue to do that and show the world what we believe is true.”