Pirates' Ryan O'Hearn Has One Major Commonality with Manager
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates finally signed their marquee free agent signing this offseason in slugger Ryan O'Hearn, who should have a big role in the lineup next season.
O'Hearn is coming off of three successful seasons, with an All-Star nod in 2025 and three postseasons. He averaged around 115+ hits, 15 home runs and near an .800 OPS during that time.
He joins a Pirates team led by manager Don Kelly, who is coming off a season where he took over mid-season and worked through their struggles in 2025.
Both player and manager have had their struggles along the way, but they're both in the same place now and ready to lead the Pirates to a postseason.
Ryan O'Hearn Shares Struggles with Don Kelly
O'Hearn has become a solid baseball player in recent years, but his journey to now hasn't been an easy one.
He spent his first five seasons with the Kansas City Royals from 2018-22, but struggled during his time there, with a -2.6 WAR and hitting just .219.
O'Hearn got sent down to the minors three times with the Royals, then designated him for assignment before they traded him to the Orioles on Jan. 5, 2023.
That breakout 2023 season saw the Orioles designate him for assignment after the trade. He then had to deal with a short minor league stint in May before they brought him back up shortly after.
Kelly was designated for assignment nine times in his playing career, much more than O'Hearn, but something that they both shared, having that experience of the difficulties of maintaining a spot on an MLB roster.
O'Hearn spoke on those difficult moments and that even when it got hard, he kept going and is now an every day player for an historic franchise like the Pirates.
"I was going to say, ‘Which time?’ Not as much as skipper, though. He got DFA’d nine times, which might be a record," O'Hearn said. "We talked about that. It’s hard, you know. You don’t want to be designated. I leaned a lot on the people around me – my family, my wife, my agent. You keep it moving.
"Whenever I had a setback in this game, you take a day to sulk, be mad, whatever and then you go back to work. I always believed I could be a force in this league. I knew that I was still getting better, still growing. I just kept going.
"When you get it taken away like that, it makes it all that more important to you. I don’t take a day for granted in the big leagues. Every day in the big leagues is a blessing. To put on this amazing uniform that Roberto Clemente wore and Honus Wagner and all these legends and I get to play a major league baseball game.
"So gratitude is huge. I love playing the game of baseball and I get to do it on the biggest stage. What more can you be excited about?"
Don Kelly Understands O'Hearn's Trials and Tribulation
Kelly is in his first offseason in charge of the Pirates and signed an extension with the team to make him the leader for the future of the franchise.
He understood what O'Hearn went through during those times he was uncertain of his future and where he played baseball next.
Kelly likes that O'Hearn took those tough moments and worked through them, becoming a better player for it and an important piece for the Pirates in 2026.
"Yeah, really exciting. We just talked about all those things, the questions that were asked of him, and him being in Kansas City at the beginning, and then going to Baltimore and making the All-Star team last year, getting traded to San Diego.
"And he's been in a lot of different environments. And talking through learning, and that's how the DFAs came up, talking to him about he was DFA'd a couple times in a short period.
"It's unfortunately part of the game, of going through it, and the resiliency that he showed in that moment of going from being DFA'd to starting in the All-Star Game, that's what Pittsburgh is all about, is that toughness and that grit. Really excited to add him to the organization."
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.