O’Neill hits a homer of another kind
MAPLE RIDGE PRODUCT: Assignment to Arizona Fall League is a feather in the cap for Mariners prospect
Larry Walker hit 26 home runs in his third full season in pro ball. Justin Morneau belted 16. Maple Ridge’s Tyler O’Neill, an outfield prospect with the Seattle Mariners, just finished cracking 32 long balls this season.
You get where we are going with this? O’Neill could be Canada’s Next Big Thing.
O’Neill, who turned 20 in June, led the Advanced Single A California League in homers, despite being two years younger than the league average and despite playing just 106 of the Bakersfield Blaze’s 140 games.
He also finished tied for second in long balls in the entire minor leagues. A.J. Reed, 22, a first base prospect in the Houston Astros system, smacked 34 homers in 135 games split between Advanced Single A and Double A. Jabari Blash, 26, another outfielder in the Seattle system, also hit 32, in 116 games in Double A and Triple A combined.
The Mariners have rewarded O’Neill, a product of the Langley Blazer Premier League program, with a spot in the Arizona Fall League, an advanced class for going on to the big leagues. It’s majoring in making the majors.
He leaves next week to join the Peoria Javelinas.
Greg Bird, 22, who has taken over the starting job at first base for the New York Yankees in the past six weeks, was the Arizona Fall League’s MVP just last year. Kris Bryant, 23, the rookie phenom with the Chicago Cubs, took the honours in the loop in 2013. Mike Trout, 24, and Bryce Harper, 22, were teammates on the 2011 Scottsdale Scorpions.
“I want to impress, I want to make a showing,” said O’Neill, a barrelchested 5-foot-11 and 210 pounds. “I know, though, that it’s going to be the hardest competition of my life.”
The Arizona Fall League is a sixteam loop that starts playing Oct. 13 and has its championship finalé Nov. 21. The Javelinas feature players from the Mariners, as well as the Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres.
O’Neill is among the youngest players in the league this time around, as one of 11 1995-born prospects throughout the various teams.
His teammates with Peoria will include Mariners southpaw James Paxton, 26, the Ladner native who is looking to get some extra innings in after his injury-filled campaign with the big club. Paxton already has more than 30 starts in the majors over three years.
Also with Peoria is outfielder Travis Jankowski, 24, who has been in the bigs with the Padres since late August.
“It’s pretty prestigious,” O’Neill said of being assigned to the league.
O’Neill missed most of those games with Bakersfield because he was part of the Canadian team that won gold at the Pan Am Games in Toronto in July. He was the youngest member of that squad, lining up alongside the likes of longtime minor leaguer Pete Orr, 36.
O’Neill hit just .188 (6-for-32) in the event, but tied for the team lead in home runs (3) and tied for fourth in runs batted in (6) in the eight-game tournament.
“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” O’Neill said. “You didn’t feel like an individual in the batter’s box. That’s a very inspiring thing.”
O’Neill changed his stance in Toronto, tweaking the position of his back foot, and started to pulverize the ball upon his return to Bakersfield. He hit 16 homers in the final 41 games and had two streaks with homers in four straight games during that spell.
He batted .296 in that span, pushing him to .260 for the season. He wound up with 87 RBIs.
He also stole 16 bases and O’Neill, a catcher with Langley, was pleased with his performance in the outfield, explaining, “I feel like my defence has become a tool for me now.”
The knock on O’Neill will be plate discipline. He struck out 137 times while walking just 29.
The California League is a circuit where the fastball dominates. O’Neill’s hope is to advance to Double A next season where the pitchers average 24 years of age. They are much more polished, much more likely to go after him with a steady diet of breaking pitches until he proves he can handle them.
“I want to start in Double A, but there are no guarantees, no promises,” O’Neill said. “I need to go to spring training and perform.”
In 2014, O’Neill hit .251, with 13 homers and 40 RBIs, in 61 games over three levels. He missed a part of the season after breaking his hand, the result of punching a wall following a strikeout.
A 2013 third-round pick by the Mariners, he hit .310, with one homer and 15 RBIs, in 28 games in Rookie ball that year.
Walker hit 26 homers in Double A in 1987, when he was 20 years old. He made his major league debut in 1989, at 22. Morneau hit 16 homers over three levels, the highest being Double A, in 2001, at the age of 20. He made his major league debut in 2003, at age 22.