Some notes and stats on soon-to-be Oriole Tyler O'Neill (Sanchez too)

The Orioles have agreed to a contract with a right-handed hitter with thump, filling one key need on their offseason wish list. They came to terms with free agent outfielder Tyler O’Neill on a three-year deal for $49.5 million. The deal has yet to be officially announced.

O’Neill is the first free agent the O’s acquired with a multi-year deal since Mike Elias took over as general manager. He can opt out after the 2025 season, which would essentially make this a one-year deal.

O’Neill, who turns 30 on June 22, last year for Boston made 56 starts in left field, 34 in right field and 17 as the DH. His addition seems to make it quite unlikely now that the O’s will re-sign free agent outfielder Anthony Santander.

O'Neill was named the Red Sox Comeback Player of the Year by the Baseball Writers' Association of America's Boston chapter. O’Neill missed 27 games due to three stints on the injured list. He went to the seven-day concussion IL on April 18 and also went on the IL May 29 with right knee inflammation and Aug. 7 with a lower leg infection.

Over 113 games and 473 plate appearances with Boston, he hit .241/.336/.511/.847 with a 132 OPS+ that was just below Santander’s 134.

O’Neill was a prolific batter versus lefty pitching last season, batting .313/.430/.750/1.180 with a wRC+ of 215 off southpaws. Against right-handers he batted .209/.290/.403/.693 for a wRC+ of 91. Now he can take aim at the closer fences in left-field and left-center at Oriole Park. 

His 2024 numbers much exceeded his OPS of .700 in 2022 and .715 in 2023 and were his best numbers since 2021. That year he finished eighth for the National League MVP, hitting 34 homers with a .912 OPS for St. Louis.

O’Neill was a big strikeout guy with a 33.6 percent strikeout rate, his highest since 2019. But his 11.2 walk percentage ranked in the top 13 percent in the major leagues and was a career best.

A few other notes on the new Oriole:

* O’Neill has homered on Opening Day in each of the last five years, a major league record. The only players to homer on Opening Day in four consecutive years are Yogi Berra (1955-58), Gary Carter (1977-80), and Todd Hundley (1994-97). This is per Elias Sports.

* With 109 homers, O’Neill ranks 10^th all-time in home runs by players born in Canada, but he is only the seventh to get to 100 or more before turning 30.

* O’Neill ranked fourth in the majors last year in at-bats per homer, among the 90 players that hit 20 or more homers.

9.64 at-bats – Aaron Judge
11.78 at-bats – Shohei Ohtani
12.04 at-bats – Kyle Tucker
13.26 at-bats – Tyler O’Neill

* O’Neill produced seven multi-homer games in 2024, to tie Houston’s Yordan Alvarez for the major league lead.

* A Scott Boras client, O’Neill won Gold Gloves in 2020 and 2021. Last year he ranked in the 82nd percentile in arm strength (89.4 mph).

* Last season he rated in the top two percent of the majors in barrel percentage (17.3) and the top 10 percent in bat speed and hard-hit percentage (48.8). The high K percentage was in the bottom two percent of big leaguers.

* In 2024, O'Neill hit .231 with an .866 OPS when batting with runners in scoring position. In 41 games versus American League East teams he hit just .181 but had an OPS of .758 with 13 home runs.

Sanchez too: The Orioles were not one and done last night, also adding catcher Gary Sanchez on a one-year deal for $8.5 million per Jon Heyman. He presumably becomes Adley Rutschman's backup.

In 89 games last season with Milwaukee, he hit .220/.307/.392/.699 with 11 homers and 37 RBIs. He was an American League All-Star in 2017 when he hit 33 homers and 2019 when he hit 34. He's got a career .772 OPS.

The O's have made their first strikes of the winter, and up next is the continued pursuit of starting pitching. Some in the industry believe the club made a strong and competitive offer for southpaw Blake Snell, and now they could pursue lefty Max Fried or a reunion with Corbin Burnes.