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Baseball Isn’t Boring

Sitting Down With Our Free Agent Pick-To-Click: Ryan O'Hearn

27 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What makes Ryan O'Hearn's signing with the Pirates significant?

0.031 - 3.075 Ryan O'Hearn

Yeah, there should be some passion. This doesn't have to be boring.

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3.316 - 8.323 Rob Ratner

You don't get bored by baseball. Okay, one thing the game needs is more people like you. You. You.

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8.343 - 20.2 Ryan O'Hearn

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

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20.18 - 31.634 Rob Ratner

Welcome to Baseball Isn't Boring. Here's your host, Rob Ratner. There is absolutely no human being on the planet I would rather be talking to more than Ryan O'Hearn right now. That's a fact. It's a fact.

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31.654 - 33.136 Ryan O'Hearn

That's nice of you, Rob. Thank you.

33.516 - 57.431 Rob Ratner

Oh, it's true. It's, you know, and we were just talking. I have not been able to spring into action and have a Baseball Isn't Boring t-shirt in Pirates colors, which I have. I actually have... Have a bunch of them. Like, have a bunch of them. Because I gave you an orange and black one, which your triceps I know never look better when you put it on, right? Correct? No, you're not lying.

57.492 - 58.614 Ryan O'Hearn

I do remember it fit good.

60.197 - 66.488 Rob Ratner

I mean, at least Tyler O'Neal got his, and he couldn't get the scissors out fast enough. That was, like, so funny.

66.468 - 70.892 Ryan O'Hearn

Yeah. Yeah, well, he's got the guns for it. He likes to show them off.

Chapter 2: How did Ryan O'Hearn navigate the free agency process?

395.429 - 411.91 Ryan O'Hearn

And then, you know, the playoffs don't go the way we wanted to, that hurts, you know, and then, um, You go into free agency and it's like, okay, I don't know where I'm going to play next year, but I know I'm going to be somewhere. I'll have a job. I'll be good. And that part is fun. And then, like you said, I have great agents.

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412.031 - 428.085 Ryan O'Hearn

Then, you know, Alan Donato and Sam and Seth and the guys at Aces, like total trust in them. So whatever they were coming at me with telling me what the deal was, like I didn't really have anything to worry about. Just trust those guys and knew that they were going to give me the best deal and best opportunities possible.

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428.065 - 449.181 Rob Ratner

Well, I can scream from the mountaintops. Why Pittsburgh is a good place, man. Like, like a good spot, a good team. And so when you hear them, when you hear their name, when you hear like their, their interest. What is your, what is your feeling? What is your, oh, this will be interesting because I think that when you're talking about the pirates, the word is interesting, right?

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449.282 - 465.75 Rob Ratner

It's interesting. I just spent way too much time on a very snowy day looking at starting rotations. I'm like, congratulations, Pittsburgh pirates. You're, you got really good pitching and now you have good hitting. So for you, when you hear that, what's your thought process?

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466.608 - 486.517 Ryan O'Hearn

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, when you start hearing teams that are interested or, you know, maybe kicking the tires on you to go and you look at their team and what they've done the last few years, you know, what the front office is telling you that they're trying to do. Moving forward, it's like, hey, you're not it. We're going to keep going. We want to seriously improve.

486.557 - 509.843 Ryan O'Hearn

That's like music to any free agency. It's like because guys want to be on good teams. But, yeah, you said it. The pitching staff for me was interesting. Anytime you've got the reigning Cy Young winner on the team, that's – It's like, okay, this is maybe a team that's pitched well the last few years. I went and looked at their offensive stuff, and then I was like, well, I can help there.

509.883 - 513.57 Ryan O'Hearn

Hey, they added Brandon Lau. They added Mangum, who's an interesting player.

515.133 - 517.337 Rob Ratner

They got the number one prospect in baseball coming up.

517.477 - 526.995 Ryan O'Hearn

Yeah, Connor Griffin, who – Everybody who's said anything about him says he's just a creative player. What do you say?

Chapter 3: What factors influenced Ryan O'Hearn's decision to join the Pirates?

1373.123 - 1391.338 Rob Ratner

Okay. I'm surprised the Blue Jays didn't use this and sort of negotiate it. Come back home. Come back home. By the way, not far off, you're still in the, I don't know what you call it, the triangle, the Bradenton.

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1391.859 - 1394.581 Ryan O'Hearn

Oh, yeah, I'm down there. Bradenton, Sarasota.

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1394.601 - 1422.637 Rob Ratner

Yeah, Bradenton, Sarasota. Yeah, yeah. It's what makes Florida spring training, so let's say interesting. I'll be down there in a few weeks. And speaking of schools, going to schools, Sam Houston State. Yeah. Um, congratulations. You had a, you have a, you had a former teammate that also went there, right? A couple. Oh, really? Yeah. Uh, Colton Couser. Yeah. Well, he was the one I was going to.

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1422.657 - 1443.632 Rob Ratner

Yeah. Yeah. And Bryce Johnson, San Diego. Okay. Price. Okay. All right. There you go. Now, when you were drafted in the eighth round. By the Kansas city Royals in that draft, the Kansas city Royals, you have the second BA I think you have the second best war of anybody drafted by the Royals in that draft.

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1445.254 - 1450.04 Ryan O'Hearn

I think I know. Oh no, I don't know. Mania.

1451.862 - 1453.163 Rob Ratner

He was, he drafted by the Royals.

1453.504 - 1454.865 Ryan O'Hearn

Yeah. He might've been the year before me.

1455.086 - 1455.486 Rob Ratner

Yeah.

1456.597 - 1459.186 Ryan O'Hearn

In my draft by the Royals?

Chapter 4: How does Ryan O'Hearn view his performance against left-handed pitchers?

1973.608 - 1975.77 Ryan O'Hearn

And I threw an 86 ball from right field.

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1976.191 - 1976.551 Rob Ratner

Okay.

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1976.852 - 1997.578 Ryan O'Hearn

A cutting – Bad 86. So I, every day that I hit, I go and play catch. And then I try to get up on that, you know, hit that VLO machine, whatever. And I try to get it up there. So I'm chilling at like, I think I hit 77 the other day and a 77 for me in January is like pretty good.

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1997.643 - 1998.144 Rob Ratner

Okay.

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1998.464 - 2001.729 Ryan O'Hearn

We'll say that before I leave for spring training, I will hit 80 miles an hour.

2001.89 - 2005.515 Rob Ratner

All right. You can do it by opening day if you wanted some extra days.

2005.776 - 2013.868 Ryan O'Hearn

Yeah, I'm going to get there by opening day, but I want to go to camp like lean, mean, ready to go throwing 80 miles an hour from a pull down in the hitting facility. You know what I mean?

2013.888 - 2037.73 Rob Ratner

Okay. Oh, so before, when you head to Bradenton? On the 14th. Okay. You have some time. So I got two weeks to get up there. Please don't. Much like when I shoved a ball of wasabi down Tristan Cassis' throat in the wasabi challenge, I do not want to be held responsible for any injuries.

2039.072 - 2050.926 Ryan O'Hearn

No, no, no. That's not going to happen. All right. I do arm care. I do a lot of arm care. All right. So what did you say, 80? Yeah, I want to hit 80 on that thing. And maybe if I get it up there, I'll get some video of it. All right.

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