Like many Canadians, Tyler O’Neill loved hockey growing up, though he quickly abandoned his skates for cleats. But when the Burnaby, British Columbia, native started playing travel baseball as a teenager, his coaches didn’t see much in him.
“At 16, he was kind of a littler guy and I didn’t really think much about him,” said Jamie Bodaly, who has coached in the Langley Blaze baseball program for 22 years and worked as a scout for the Cincinnati Reds since 2012.
Bodaly recalled a conversation with O’Neill’s dad Terry about his son’s baseball prospects. Terry O’Neill, a retired bodybuilder who won Mr. Canada — an annual honor given to the nation’s top bodybuilder — in 1975, was adamant his son would be successful.
“Terry said, ‘Tyler will never get any taller’ — he was like 5-8 or 5-9 at the time — ‘but I’m going to get him to grow wider,'” Bodaly said, a promise by the elder O’Neill that his son would make up for any natural athletic ability with elite physical fitness.
“Everyone always knows who the young phenoms are at age 12 or 13 and Tyler was just a normal guy that worked hard and just got better than everybody,” Bodaly said.
More than a decade later, that work ethic and relentless commitment in the gym have propelled O’Neill through seven strong major league seasons. In early December, the Baltimore Orioles signed the 5-foot-11, 200-pound outfielder to a three-year $49.5 million contract, the club’s first multi-year free-agent deal since Mike Elias became general manager.
The 29-year-old will be a key piece in filling the hole in the Orioles’ lineup left by Anthony Santander, who signed with the Toronto Blue Jays. As he begins his first season in Baltimore, O’Neill hopes to lean on the foundation laid by his dad and his youth baseball team to continue his success.
“I’m very thankful for the background that I started out with,” O’Neill said of his upbringing. “I built a very solid foundation in the weight room, but more importantly, mentally, just understanding discipline at an early age, understanding sacrifice, and just knowing what I’ve got to do to get better for the next day, and then just putting that on repeat.”
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After spending six seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals and last year with the Boston Red Sox, O’Neill was a free agent for the first time this winter.
When the Orioles approached the right-handed slugger about signing with the team, the first conversation centered on the left field wall at Camden Yards. Baltimore announced plans in November to move the wall for the second time in four seasons, making the left field wall as much as 26 feet closer to home plate and 5 to 6 feet lower. Those tweaks, which Elias called a “happier medium” for hitters and pitchers, factored into O’Neill’s decision to sign with Baltimore.
“For guys like me who were interested in signing somewhere in free agency, I wouldn’t think about signing in Baltimore [with such a deep left field],” O’Neill said. “But with the modifications, that suits my play style a lot better. I’m a right-handed power hitter. I’m going to hit the ball to the pull side. To be able to have that forgiveness is definitely appealing.”
O’Neill is coming off a strong 2024 season, slashing .241/.336/.511 with 31 home runs and 61 RBIs in 472 plate appearances, his best since the 2021 season when he finished eighth in NL MVP voting and earned his second career Gold Glove.
Injuries kept him from playing consistently in St. Louis from 2022-2023. Multiple ailments last year — including a knee injury, leg infection and finger inflammation — disrupted his lone Boston season. Still, he played in 113 games, the first time he cracked triple digits since 2021. The goal this year is to play 130-plus, he said.
Joining Baltimore, O’Neill saw the opportunity to regain that 2021 form and play with a young core eager for championship glory.
“I’ve had experience playing Baltimore, this past year [with Boston] especially, and they’re a powerhouse, man,” O’Neill said. “That was definitely a dictating factor for me. I want to come in somewhere with the best chance to make a deep playoff run.”
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Before he was an outfielder, O’Neill started all over the field for the Langley Blaze, getting time at catcher, shortstop and third base.
As his weight room routine took effect, O’Neill gained power and bat speed and “just started raking,” he said.
By the time he was finishing school, O’Neill had surpassed the talent of another Langley product, according to Bodaly: Brett Lawrie, who played in the big leagues from 2011-2016.
“He had a natural ability to hit the ball hard with really good hand-eye coordination,” the coach said of O’Neill. “In Grade 11, that power translated from doubles into home runs. We play in a wood bat league — and our field is huge, it’s like a graveyard — and he was hitting them out of there and nobody does that.”
The Seattle Mariners drafted O’Neill in the third round of the 2013 MLB Draft, a dream come true for the lifelong Mariners fan, who recalled his family trekking south each year to watch the team play.
That first year, O’Neill toiled with Seattle’s rookie-level affiliate in Arizona, learning to play all three outfield positions in 120-degree heat.
“I spent the summer in Arizona, which was no joke,” O’Neill said. “But I just grinded. I got to work. It just came down to reps and figuring it out and getting comfortable out there. I’m really grateful for that path. It’s led me to a couple Gold Gloves.”
By the time he was promoted to the Mariners’ Triple-A squad, O’Neill was rounding into form as a hitter, posting 113 homers in the minors from 2015-2018. He also crossed paths with new Orioles reliever Andrew Kittredge in the Mariners’ farm system.
“He’s got unbelievably fast hands for a guy his size,” Kittredge said.
Kittredge, a 34-year-old right-hander, signed a one-year $10 million deal with Baltimore in January to help fill out the bullpen.
“He was so young and he was carrying our offense,” Kittredge said of O’Neill. “You don’t see the five tools that often at that level. He’s been a fun guy to watch mature.”
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With the Orioles, O’Neill will join an outfield crew that figures to include some combination of Dylan Carlson, Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad, Ramón Laureano and Cedric Mullins.
O’Neill sees himself playing all three positions when called upon and is looking forward to playing a more traditional outfield. Playing the outfield corners at Fenway Park was an adjustment.
“The dimensions are very extreme on both sides. Left field, you’re basically playing shortstop. And right field, you’re covering two positions essentially, with a crazy wall,” O’Neill said. “I definitely saw my numbers slip. But I know what I have to do to get back into elite form and I’m looking forward to having a more balanced ballpark.”
The adjusted left-field dimensions at Camden Yards could help boost O’Neill’s offensive numbers as well. All but three of his 31 home runs last year were to left-center and left field.
O’Neill has also shown his ability to crush left-handing pitching. He hit .313/.430/.750 with 16 homers in 156 plate appearances against lefties in 2024.
Kittredge knows what Orioles fans can expect from his teammate when the season gets underway.
“A lot of power hitters can be all or nothing where, as long as you don’t make a mistake [as a pitcher], you’ll be fine,” Kittredge said. “I think he has the ability to leave the yard on good pitches, too.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles
Issue 291: February / March 2025
Originally published Feb. 19, 2025