MLB may be in Cards for O’Neill
Former Seattle prospect from Maple Ridge has shot at outfield job in St. Louis
Tyler O’Neill hits tape-measure home runs. It looks like he’s a short step or two from a regular job in the major leagues.
The powerhouse outfielder from Maple Ridge is all of 22 years of age, but he could well be on the St. Louis Cardinals’ opening day roster and make his Major League Baseball debut early this season.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for one, has O’Neill duelling with Harrison Bader, 23, for the fourth outfielder spot with the Cardinals, who just opened spring training in Jupiter, Fla.
Bader appeared in 32 games with the big club last season, but O’Neill has hit 101 home runs over his fiveyear minor-league career, including 31 last season in triple-A, to go with 95 runs batted in.
“This is the first year that I actually get to go down to spring (training) and have an opportunity to break with the team and at a level that I’ve always dreamed of,” O’Neill said just before departing for Florida. “I’m really excited to go down and see what I can do.
“I don’t think people realize the all-around player that I can be. And I’m new to the St. Louis organization, and they need to get a good look at me.
“Big-league spring training last year was a new experience. Getting to play against the best in the game was something. Triple-A was another new experience. Guys don’t challenge you as much. They’d rather you get yourself out. If I start at triple-A again, I’ll know what to expect, but I’m really looking at the possibility of playing in the big leagues this spring.”
The muscle-bound O’Neill was one of the darlings of the Seattle Mariners’ farm system 12 months ago. He almost won the Triple Crown in the double-A Southern League in 2016, putting up 24 home runs, 102 RBIs and a .293 average.
He ended up mashing a mammoth homer off of Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw in spring training, before getting sent down to the triple-A Tacoma Rainiers.
There was talk then of the 5-11,
210-pound O’Neill getting called up to the Mariners during the year. He began the campaign as Seattle’s No. 2 prospect, according to mlb.com.
The Mariners instead traded O’Neill to the Cardinals last July, receiving left-hander Marco Gonzales in return. Seattle brass said at the time they were in need of pitching, but the Mariners took some hits in the press and on social media for the deal.
“It was different,” said O’Neill, a product of the Langley Blaze, a B.C. Premier League perennial contender, who was picked by the Mariners in the third round of the 2013 amateur draft. “It was definitely a reality check about how the business
works. It was definitely different but I embraced it and went with it.”
He’s definitely wired different than most of us.
O’Neill was four years younger than the average triple-A position player last season, according to baseball-reference.com. With all the hype, he came into Tacoma and hit .174 through 23 games in April. He was batting .236, with 14 home runs and 45 RBIs, in his 84 Pacific Coast League games before the allstar break.
He went back to Tacoma following the all-star break, and then there was the trade, which saw him switch PCL allegiances and join the rival Memphis Red Birds. He played his
final 37 games of the year with Memphis, and put up 12 home runs and 39 RBIs, to go with a .253 average.
He’s so powerful that the ball simply sounds different coming off his bat, but he also expects to succeed. Demands it even. He’s willing to battle to find ways to do it, and that fortitude has played a role in what’s gone on for him so far.
The mindset matters.
The home run off Kershaw is another example. Sure, it was spring training but that is probably the best pitcher in baseball that you hit one 400 feet against. Isn’t that true, Tyler?
“He also struck me out, so punch for punch, right?” O’Neil interjected. “It’s just one home run.
“I’ve always been like that. I’ve always felt like I was capable of playing with the best of them, and I don’t need to relish the moment if I do something great.”
The way he’s going, there could be a rush soon on Cardinals’ gear at local sporting goods stores. There could be people looking to change over from Mariners’ stuff. O’Neill would get that.
“I don’t know man,” O’Neill said when asked what he’s done with his assortment of Mariners hats, T-shirts, sweatshirts and the like. “My mom has a big bin. We just threw it all in there.”