“Dumpster diving.” It’s a phrase that Orioles fans hate, a derisive criticism of the team’s tendency to eschew high-profile talent and instead add flawed players through waiver claims or minor league deals.
But every once in a while, dumpster diving really does work. With a new environment and the right coaching, one team’s castoff can turn into another team’s star. And nobody better exemplifies that idea than Ryan O’Hearn.
Three years ago at this time, O’Hearn’s career was on the brink of ending at age
28. He was long removed from his impressive 2018 rookie season with the Royals, which he had followed up with four consecutive lousy campaigns, prompting Kansas City to jettison him from the roster. The Orioles, looking for a lefty-swinging first baseman to back up Ryan Mountcastle, took a chance and claimed O’Hearn on waivers. And the rest was history.
The O’s made some adjustments to O’Hearn’s swing, helped him with his confidence, and that — along with MLB’s newly instituted anti-shift rule in 2023 — helped the pull-heavy slugger revitalize his career. Within a few months, O’Hearn transformed from waiver-wire minor league filler into an integral part of the lineup for the 101-win Orioles. He posted a 122 OPS+ that season, then proved it wasn’t a fluke by following it up with as 119 mark in 2024.
Even then, some O’s fans were still skeptical of O’Hearn’s success entering the 2025 season. arguing that the club shouldn’t have picked up an $8 million option for a 31-year-old DH when they had younger options like Heston Kjerstad who could fill that role. That’s a take that, um, didn’t age well. While a slew of young Orioles hitters had disappointing seasons this year (none moreso than Kjerstad), the veteran O’Hearn just continued to hit, putting up his best season in an Orioles uniform.
In 94 games for the Birds, O’Hearn posted the highest OBP of his career (.374), as well as his best OPS (.837) since his 44-game rookie season. As usual, he was a mainstay in the lineup against right-handed pitchers, but in an unexpected surprise, he also excelled against lefties. O’Hearn, normally a platoon guy, got more at-bats against southpaws this season as he filled in for the injured Mountcastle at first base, and he responded with an .832 OPS in 109 PAs. That’s a marked improvement from his career .642 mark against lefties.
Baseball fans took notice, and in July, they voted him to be the American League’s starting DH in the All-Star Game. It was the first career All-Star appearance for O’Hearn, who was the only representative for the struggling Orioles. But it also stood as something of a swan song for O’Hearn, a pending free agent who was nearly certain to be dealt at the trade deadline.
Sure enough, he was. As part of the Orioles’ frenzied sell-off of expiring contracts on July 31, they shipped O’Hearn and outfielder Ramón Laureano to the San Diego Padres for a whopping six-player package headlined by lefty pitching prospect Boston Bateman. O’Hearn finished his Orioles career with a .277/.342/.454 line and 42 homers in 348 games. It was a good run, to be sure. His numbers dipped a bit after the trade, but he still served as a useful lefty bat for the postseason-bound Padres, who got knocked out in the first round by the Cubs.
In yesterday’s Laureano article, my colleague Mark Brown offered a profile of Bateman and the two other pitchers in the deal, Tyson Neighbors and Tanner Smith. Today we’ll take a look at the three position players the O’s acquired in the trade: Brandon Butterworth, Victor Figueroa, and Cobb Hightower. Of that trio, only Hightower (#26 on MLB Pipeline) ranks among the Orioles’ top 30 prospects, but each of the three brings at least one notable tool to the table.
Cobb Hightower is a 20-year-old infielder and not, as I first assumed, a George R.R. Martin character. He was the Padres’ third-round pick in last year’s draft, plucked from East Rowan HS in North Carolina. He made his pro debut this season and struggled for the first two months with the Padres’ Low-A affiliate, Lake Elsinore. Through his first 20 games he was batting just .200 with a .607 OPS. Even then, his quality batting eye was on display, as he had more walks (15) than strikeouts (11). Hightower stepped up his game in July, and at the time the Orioles acquired him, he was riding a red-hot streak in which he was 12-for-25 with four multi-hit games in his final five days for the Storm.
Upon joining his new organization, Hightower played his final 24 games with High-A Delmarva. His overall numbers weren’t great — .250/.337/.321 with one home run — but scouts see room for him to grow. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen affectionately praises Hightower’s “lovely hitting hands” that help him make solid contact, and Pipeline notes that the 20-year-old’s “repeatable swing” and knowledge of the strike zone support “the belief he could be an above-average hitter in time.”
Hightower is considered a solid defensive shortstop with “plus range, acrobatic actions, and quick range,” according to Longenhagen. He also gets high marks for his speed, and was 14 for 16 in stolen base attempts across the two organizations this season. Still, he’s unlikely to follow in the footsteps of other recent O’s infield prospects who became everyday MLB starters; Longenhagen projects him as more of a utility infielder type due to his lack of power.
Hightower isn’t the only North Carolina-born, 2024-drafted shortstop the O’s acquired in that trade. So too is Butterworth, though he’s three years older, having played college ball at Western Carolina and NC State. Butterworth was having a fine season for High-A Fort Wayne in the Padres’ system (.267/.327/.455 in 89 games) before the trade, and the O’s immediately promoted him to Double-A Chesapeake upon acquiring him, where he posted a .215 average and .677 OPS.
Butterworth’s most likely role if he reaches the majors is as a “glove/speed-oriented 26th man,” writes Longenhagen. “He’s a fantastic little infield athlete with plus range and beautiful body control. He’s also a plus runner and might be able to play center field, as well as multiple infield positions.” Indeed, Butterworth played four different positions — short, second, left field, and center — in his 34 games with the Baysox.
Then there’s Figueroa, who’s probably the biggest long shot of the bunch. The Florida native, who turns 22 on Christmas Eve, is known for one thing: his power. Figueroa opened eyes at Mississippi Valley State with a .623 SLG in 2023, and after the Padres selected him in the 18th round last year, he began this season with 12 home runs in 64 games split between the rookie-league Padres and Low-A Lake Elsinore.
But when the O’s bumped him up to High-A Aberdeen after the trade, the notoriously hitter-unfriendly environment did not do Figueroa any favors. He failed to homer in his 25-game stint with the IronBirds, batting just .182 with a .583 OPS. The Orioles’ High-A affiliate will be moving to Frederick this season, so perhaps a different ballpark will help Figueroa rediscover his power stroke. He’s a long way from the bigs, so it’s too soon to tell if he has any real prospect status or will just be minor league filler.
Even if none of the six players the O’s acquired from the Padres becomes a star, the Orioles squeezed great value out of a once-forgotten waiver claim in O’Hearn. They molded him into a quality hitter, got 2.5 strong seasons and an All-Star appearance out of him, and then packaged him to acquire a slew of minor league depth. Not bad for dumpster diving.
