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The Pirates plan to play O'Hearn primarily in right field in 2026, Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com reports.
O'Hearn was originally projected to play at either first base or serve as DH, but the addition of Marcell Ozuna will take away many of those at-bats. O'Hearn will seemingly be Pittsburgh's primary right fielder as a result, a position he played 149.0 innings at in 2025. He registered negative-4 runs saved in that span, though left field is the far more difficult corner to cover at PNC Park.
Pirates' Ryan O'Hearn: Gets $29 million from Pirates
Rotowire
The Pirates signed O'Hearn to a two-year, $29 million contract Tuesday, Robert Murray of FanSided.com reports.
He'll have the opportunity to stretch the total guarantee to $30 million if he reaches $500,000 in incentives each year of the deal. O'Hearn has slashed .277/.343/.445 over the last three regular seasons between the Orioles and Padres and made his first All-Star team in 2025. The left-handed hitter reversed a career trend and hit better versus lefties (.832 OPS) than righties (.795 OPS) in 2025, so he could be an everyday player in Pittsburgh. With Spencer Horwitz manning first base, O'Hearn will likely see most of his playing time at designated hitter.
O'Hearn went 2-for-4 with a grand slam in Tuesday's victory over the Brewers.
O'Hearn electrified the crowd Tuesday with a first-inning grand slam off Bruce Zimmermann to put the Padres on top early. After a rough start to September, the slugger has locked back in, going 10-for-20 with eight RBI and a pair of extra-base hits across his past five games. While his post-deadline production has dipped to a .711 OPS since he left the Orioles, O'Hearn's overall season has been strong, with a .276/.362/.435 line, 20 doubles, 17 homers and 62 RBI across 140 games.
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Padres' Ryan O'Hearn: Trio of RBI in three-hit attack
Rotowire
O'Hearn went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI in Saturday's 7-3 win over the White Sox.
It was the fourth three-RBI effort of the season by O'Hearn, who also knocked at least three hits for the seventh time in 2025. The All-Star slugger has found himself in quite the tailspin at the plate -- he has a .529 OPS in September -- though he doesn't appear to be in immediate danger of losing action as the designated hitter. Gavin Sheets, who's O'Hearn's main threat to playing time, has a .589 OPS this month.
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