Your grandkids may not believe it, but there was a time when Ryan O’Hearn looked like a potential cornerstone for the next winning Royals team. No no, it’s true. He came up in 2018 and hit 12 homers in 44 games and slugged almost .600. He worked walks. He even hit two triples. But alas, that moment was fleeting. Armed with high hopes in 2019, many hid behind the cloak of bad luck for O’Hearn, but well, he wasn’t that unlucky. But still, there was hope for the still young enough first baseman heading into 2020.
You see, his new manager, Mike Matheny, had a bit of a baseball crush on O’Hearn, so you knew he was going to get his opportunities.