The Baltimore Orioles’ up-and-down nightmare season rolls along as they face the American League-leading Detroit Tigers. After a promising six-game winning streak against the Chicago White Sox and Seattle Mariners, the Orioles came back down to reality, losing two out of three against the collapsing Athletics. As production from star players vanishes, so does the team’s hope.
After the Tigers, Baltimore will face the surprisingly good Los Angeles Angels, the Tampa Bay Rays’ reliable pitching staff, the American League East-leading New York Yankees, the Texas Rangers’ elite starting rotation, the Rays again, and then the Rangers again. The Orioles won’t have much of a soft spot for the rest of the month, opening the door for players to be shipped off several weeks before the July 31 trade deadline.
Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller released a list of the “Top 10 Hitters on the Summer MLB Trade Market” on Tuesday morning, identifying quality hitters on losing teams who could be shipped off to contenders. Two names in Baltimore appeared on the list: outfielder Cedric Mullins and first baseman Ryan O’Hearn.
Mullins, who comes in at No. 7 on the list, is slashing .232/.324/.448 with ten home runs and has been one of Baltimore’s more solid hitters. He has not been quite the same elite defender he has been in years past, with his Range (OAA) on Baseball Savant on pace to drop for the fourth straight season, despite not necessarily becoming a slower player. However, he is very inexpensive, making him a valuable rental piece for a contender.
“If Mullins comes back and looks like the All-Star who had a 30/30 campaign in 2021, though, that’s a drastically different story,” Miller writes. “With a pro-rated salary of slightly less than $3 million for the final two months of the season, he could well become the most coveted rental on this year’s trade block—especially with the Mets, Phillies, Guardians and perhaps a few others interested in adding a center fielder this summer.”
O’Hearn, who comes in at No. 2, is slashing an impressive .316/.397/.500 with 60 hits and nine home runs. If Baltimore had a better record, especially one comparable to the outstanding regular seasons they’ve had the last few years, he would likely be getting a lot more attention. He could be a nice rental for a team looking to take advantage of a career year – it could be difficult to bank on him keeping up his numbers for long.
“And it’s not like any of the underlying data suggests he’s due to fall apart,” Miller writes. “O’Hearn is in the 98th percentile of expected batting average (.319), with Statcast suggesting he ought to be hitting .386 and slugging .633 against fastballs, compared to his already incredible marks of .358 and .566, respectively.”
“It’s also not like he hit poorly over the prior two seasons with Baltimore. O’Hearn wasn’t previously this good, but he also low-key triple-slashed (.275/.329/.450) in 2023-24—all but exactly the same as Julio Rodríguez did (.274/.329/.450).”
O’Hearn can play in the outfield in addition to first base, which could increase the variety of needs he could fill for contending teams, causing more clubs to bid on him and drive up the price the Orioles would get in return for the soon-to-be free agent.
For more Orioles news, head over to Orioles On SI.
