Kansas City Royals: The Royals Have a Logjam at First Base

Ryan O’Hearn

Ryan O’Hearn is an interesting case. For a few years, he has been a name mentioned often. He was a guy that if he could figure out how to be consistent offensively he could make his jump. Unfortunately, consistency is hard at times.

Throughout his career, he has shown the ability to hit for power. Over his four year career, he has hit 96 doubles, five triples, and 84 home runs. In fact, last year in his first campaign in Triple-A he had 26 doubles and 18 home runs over 114 games.

Unfortunately, again with power comes strikeouts. He has struck out a cringe-worthy 497 times over 457 games.

Defensively, he is a solid fielder. At first base, he has a career fielding percentage of .990 and .995 while in Triple-A last year.

During Spring Training, O’Hearn has been showing off what he can do. Before being reassigned he was hitting .400/.447/1.000 with 10 extra-base hits, five being home runs. The 19 games he played showed a lot of maturity for a player who has been a consistent .250 hitter.

The story seems to be the same for O’Hearn as it is for Dozier and Cuthbert. For some reason, the organization does not seem to see O’Hearn as a future solution at first base.

This is interesting because he looks to be far more comfortable at first base than in the outfield. His bat is also a bit too inconsistent to be considered an everyday designated hitter. So they obviously have someone in mind for the position, right?