How Mike Sweeney’s quiet support has been a boon to Royals’ rookie Ryan O’Hearn

Life in Class AAA baseball can be cruel.

The promotion a player has dreamed of since watching his first big-league game as kid literally could come any day. Or, it could never come at all.

In early June, Ryan O’Hearn wondered what his future held while in the clubhouse of the Omaha Storm Chasers.

The previous winter, O’Hearn was disappointed the Royals had not added him to the 40-man roster. Then, after a good showing at spring training (five home runs, 1.000 slugging percentage), O’Hearn slumped in his second season at Omaha and his average dipped below .240. During an 11-game stretch, he had just one extra-base hit.

O’Hearn wondered if he’d hit his ceiling at Class AAA. Was he destined to be one of those players who were oh so close to the majors but never made it?

In need of an emotional lift, O’Hearn got it when Mike Sweeney, the Royals’ special assistant to baseball operations, visited the Storm Chasers.

“If you talk to Mike Sweeney, he’s the ultimate motivational guy,” O’Hearn said. “He just encouraged me to keep going and not worry too much about the future and things I can’t control. He’s definitely picked my spirits up and influenced me to just forget about that and play.”

Just weeks later, the worry washed away when the Royals selected O’Hearn’s contract from Omaha and he made a splash in his big-league debut.

As the Royals’ designated hitter, O’Hearn broke a scoreless tie by hitting a two-run homer in the fifth inning of a 4-2 win over the White Sox in Chicago on July 31. His family was thrilled ... as was Sweeney’s.

“I saw his second at-bat (in the majors),” Sweeney said by phone. “It was a curveball from James Shields on a 1-0 count and he hits a home run and my family was going crazy. That night after the game, Ryan shoots me a text that says, ‘Hey Sweens, thanks for everything. I appreciate all you’ve done with me to get me here.’

“It’s all him, but just to be on the journey with the guy in my role as special assistant to baseball operations is incredible.”

In his short time with the Royals, O’Hearn has made an impact. Through his first 18 games, he had 15 RBIs and eight games with an extra-base hit, which both rank second-best in Royals history for a rookie.

Over his last 12 games, O’Hearn is batting .308 with three doubles, five home runs, 12 RBIs and a 1.126 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. He leads the Royals in exit velocity (93.4 mph), which is ninth in Major League Baseball among players with at least 40 balls put in play.

On Friday night, O’Hearn became part of major-league history. He hit a game-tying home run against Indians reliever Cody Allen and teammate Hunter Dozier followed with a walk-off shot. It was the first time that rookies had ever hit back-to-back home runs to tie and win game in bottom of ninth inning or later.

None of this is a surprise to Sweeney, who has followed O’Hearn since the Royals took him with their eighth-round pick in the 2014 draft.

“Ryan O’Hearn hit a walk-off home run the first game I saw him,” Sweeney said. “It was opposite field to left-center field in (Rookie Advanced) Idaho Falls. I’ve been with him every year.”

O’Hearn, who has played first base and left field, is thrilled to have a confidant in Sweeney, a Royals’ Hall of Famer who was a five-time All-Star and a career .299 hitter in Kansas City.

“When I’m doing well and when I’m not doing well, he’ll leave messages on my phone and when he’s in town we’ll go to dinner,” O’Hearn said. “Just an unbelievable role model and guy that I look up to that just has kind of helped me through good times and bad times.

“Obviously, he’s been through it and has had an unbelievable career and a guy that I want to be like. I’m super blessed to have a guy like that in my corner.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2018 at 2:34 PM.