Time is up for O'Hearn

Following Eric Hosmer's departure for San Diego in 2018, the Royals have struggled to find a dependable first baseman until Nick Pratto made his major league debut earlier this year. Before the Royals gave Pratto the first base job on a regular basis, the team tried many different players at the position including Lucas Duda, Brandon Moss from time to time, Ryan McBroom, Ryan O'Hearn, and Carlos Santana. The team drafted O'Hearn in the eighth round of the 2014 MLB Draft. The 29-year old made his big league debut on July 31, 2018. O'Hearn's big league career started off like every big league player hoped it would—a home run in your first big league game. Following the end of O'Hearn's rookie season he took the majority of the reps at first base in 2019, playing in 105 games with 370 plate appearances. O'Hearn in 2019 hit 14 home runs with 38 runs batted in. Before reaching the big leagues, according to beyondtheboxscore.com's Patrick Brennan: "That success took a hiatus though once he reached Triple-A. In 869 plate appearances spanning across two seasons, he slashed .243/.324/.423, almost unplayable production for a first baseman, especially considering that he was playing in the high-offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League. Oddly, his power took a massive dip, caused by a dramatic drop in his HR/FB and BABIP." The Royals are known to be very patient with player's development, but sometimes they are too patient, and O'Hearn is definitely one of them. Kansas City has many options down on the farm to replace O'Hearn, like possibly second baseman Clay Dungan. Dungan this season has batted a .228 average with eight homers and 41 runs batted in. Kansas City's Triple-A roster following Pratto's promotion to the big leagues, besides Drew Waters, is very thin on the offensive side of the ball.  The boys in blue can always look at the free agent market to replace O'Hearn on the team; but I would love to see the team take a chance on a batter that has recently been released by a team instead of letting a young player waste away on the bench. I am still holding out some hope that O'Hearn can turn his season around and become a solid bench piece for Kansas City the rest of the season; but if not, I believe it's time for the Royals to cut ties with O'Hearn and hope he gets another shot in the big leagues with another ball club. 

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