Orioles fans shouldn't expect Tyler O’Neill to return soon

Outfielder Tyler O’Neill was returned from his minor league rehab assignment by the Orioles on Saturday, per a club announcement. O’Neill was placed on the shelf due to a shoulder impingement nearly a month ago, but began his rehab assignment last week and seemed to be nearing a return to action prior to Saturday's news. He had sat out recent games due to renewed soreness in his shoulder, however, and now has been pulled off his rehab assignment entirely. MASN’s Roch Kubatko relays that O’Neill will be shut down from all baseball activity for one week and has already received an injection in his AC joint.

The news is a clear sign that the Orioles should not expect O’Neill’s return anytime soon. While an estimated timetable for his return to the field won’t be known until after this shutdown period ends, it should be expected he’ll need to resume building up with lighter baseball activities before he’s in position for the Orioles to consider a new rehab assignment. Position players can be on a rehab assignment for a maximum of 20 days before they have to be pulled back or activated from the IL, so once he begins playing in rehab games again the countdown to his return can resume in earnest.

Until then, Baltimore’s outfield will be without its top right-handed option. The team signed O’Neill to a three-year, $49.5MM deal in free agency over the offseason as a way to help make up for the loss of Anthony Santander from their lineup and complement a heavily left-handed outfield mix that features Cedric Mullins, Colton Cowser, and Heston Kjerstad on a regular basis. O’Neill made plenty of sense as a complement to that trio given his excellent numbers against left-handed pitching, but things haven’t worked out so well in year one of his contract with the Orioles. The outfielder has been limited to just 24 games by injuries this year, and even when he’s been healthy enough to take the field he’s hit a paltry .188/.280/.325 (70 wRC+) with just two home runs in 93 plate appearances.

It’s a far cry from the production he offered the Red Sox last year, when he slugged 31 homers in 113 games and posted a 131 wRC+ overall. While that sort of performance can obviously be transformational for a lineup, the Orioles would likely benefit from even a more modestly productive version of O’Neill as long as he can get healthy enough to return to the outfield. The Orioles have been the least productive offense against left-handed pitching in the American League this year, and their 62 wRC+ is ahead of only the lowly Rockies in the majors as a whole. O’Neill is a career .261/.366/.524 hitter against southpaws, so even a diminished version of him could be a huge boost to the lineup.

Until he returns, however, the Orioles appear likely to continue relying on Ramon Laureano to fill O’Neill’s role as a lefty-mashing outfielder. Laureano has excelled in Baltimore this year with a 139 wRC+ in 133 plate appearances, though the longtime lefty masher has actually gotten most of his production against right-handed pitching this year with below-average numbers against opposite-handed pitching. That makes him an imperfect complement to the Orioles’ otherwise all-lefty outfield, but until O’Neill returns the club doesn’t have many clearly better options.