(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – San Diego Padres’ Ryan O’Hearn celebrates after hitting a grand slam during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Sept. 23, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — By his own admission, Ryan O’Hearn did some digging when the Pittsburgh Pirates approached the All-Star first baseman/outfielder in free agency.
The more digging O’Hearn did, the more the Pirates seemed like the right fit.
“It’s a team that can pitch and is one or two pieces away from being a legit contender,” O’Hearn said Thursday after finalizing a, $29 million, two-year deal with Pittsburgh. “That’s what I’m here to do.”
The left-handed first baseman and outfielder is coming off the best season of his big league career. O’Hearn hit .281 with 17 home runs and 63 RBIs in 2025 and made the All-Star team for the first time while playing for Baltimore and San Diego.
“When I got to Baltimore for whatever reason, it kind of clicked,” Hearn said.
He hit .277 across the last three seasons after being acquired by the Orioles in early 2023. He spent the first five seasons of his big league career in Kansas City.
“You know how it is in this game. When you’re struggling, you can just kind of feel defeated because it’s every day,” he said. “But it’s the same thing when you start to have success, you start to realize, ‘Hey, I’m a guy.’ I think that happened for me in 2023.”
The rare splurge by the Pirates is their second significant acquisition in less than a month. Pittsburgh acquired two-time All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe from Tampa Bay on Dec. 19 as part of a three-team deal that included sending starting pitcher Mike Burrows to Houston.
O’Hearn, who connected with Lowe during the All-Star Game last season, said the trade “moved the needle” toward signing with Pittsburgh. So did a 45-minute call with Pirates manager Don Kelly.
Immediately afterward, O’Hearn told his agent he was ready to become the first player to sign a multi-year free agent agreement with Pittsburgh since pitcher Ivan Nova agreed to a three-year pact in 2016.
Pittsburgh has vowed to build around a pitching staff that includes reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes and rookie Bubba Chandler. The Pirates are coming off a 71-91 season in which the offense finished at or near the bottom of the majors in most significant statistical categories, including runs and home runs.
“To be a winning team, you have to pitch,” O’Hearn said. “You have to have a starting rotation. You have to have great bullpen guys. On that side of the ball, you got to be good. That’s one thing that really stood out to me about this team. Obviously, Paul Skenes is a generational talent. In addition to him, there’s other young guys that have great stuff that are coming into their own.”
O’Hearn is joining a lineup that includes Lowe, outfielders Bryan Reynolds and Oneal Cruz and first baseman Spencer Horwitz. O’Hearn could bounce between first and the outfield while also serving as an occasional designated hitter.
“We went into the offseason thinking, ‘We have to improve the offense. There are different ways to do that,’” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “You can score runs with some strikeouts mixed in. You can score runs with a lot of contact. I don’t think there’s absolutely one way to do it. It is nice to have a little bit more balance in terms of the style. Ryan helps with that.”
