San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill (3) is congratulated by Ryan O'Hearn (32) after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park on Sept. 11. Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

Padres' All-Star Addition Gets Brutally Honest on Struggles

Originally posted on San Diego Padres on SI
By J.P. Hoornstra | Last updated Sep 20, 2025 1:00 PM ET

The Padres' 4-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Friday marked the 26th straight game Ryan O'Hearn has played without hitting a home run. He's batting .209 in that stretch, with a .273 on-base percentage and a .231 slugging percentage.

Those are poorer numbers than the Padres surely expected when they sent six minor leaguers to the Baltimore Orioles to acquire O'Hearn, outfielder Ramon Laureano, and cash on July 31. They're also poorer numbers than O'Hearn expected of himself.

“I know I’m playing like s–t,” he told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Mostly a reserve first baseman/outfielder with the Kansas City Royals early in his career, O'Hearn broke out after the Orioles acquired him from the Royals for cash in January 2023.

O'Hearn played 112 games in 2023, his first year in Baltimore, and gave the Orioles a career-best 1.2 Wins Above Replacement (via Baseball Reference). Finally given the opportunity to play a starter's share of games in 2024, O'Hearn responded with a .264/.334/.427 batting line. He saw time at three different positions and produced 2 bWAR in 142 games.

O'Hearn appeared to pick up where he left off in 2025, slashing .283/.374/.463 through the end of July, when he made his first career All-Star team.

But he's fallen off sharply since the trade to San Diego, becoming a liability rather than an asset in Mike Shildt's lineup.

“I would love to contribute more,” O’Hearn told Acee. “That eats me up. I’m pissed off at that. But I’m not just sit around and be sad about it. I’m going to try to do something different.”

A free agent at the end of this season, O'Hearn isn't merely playing himself out of general manager AJ Preller's plans for the Padres' 2026 roster. He's jeopardizing his chances of being in the lineup every day come October.

Shildt has limited O'Hearns looks against left-handed pitchers in the past, and those might be the first of his opportunities to dry up unless O'Hearn can turn his season around in short order.

O'Hearn's platoon splits are not especially pronounced. But his last hit against a left-handed pitcher was on Sept. 3, a single against former teammate Cade Povich.

Friday marked one week since his last hit against any pitcher; O'Hearn entered the Padres' game against the Chicago White Sox riding an 0-for-14 slump, which grew to 0-for-15 before his fourth inning RBI single. He still finished the game just 1-for-4 with three strikeouts, including the final out of the contest.