The Pittsburgh Pirates have been linked to a lot of free agents.
It at least suggests a new energy coming out of Pittsburgh, which isn't always the biggest spender.
Because of that, ESPN's David Schoenfield assigned a free agent superlative specifically to the Pirates in a new article. He awarded the category of, "Player most likely to end up in Pittsburgh."
His choice: Ryan O'Hearn.
O'Hearn is a free agent after splitting the 2025 season between the Baltimore Orioles and the San Diego Padres.
He began his MLB career with five seasons with the Royals, then spent two-and-a-half seasons with Baltimore before being traded to the Padres to close out 2025.
In 2025, O'Hearn hit.281 with 21 doubles, 17 homers and 63 RBI in 144 games.
"The Pirates were reportedly very in on Josh Naylor, so the logical transition won't be Alonso or Bellinger, but the next tier down, which is O'Hearn," Schoenfield writes. "The Orioles viewed O'Hearn as a platoon hitter, but he played more regularly against lefties last season and hit.278/.358/.474 against them in 109 plate appearances. It's a small sample size, but he showed enough that he deserves the opportunity to play every day. And the Pirates are the team to give him that opportunity."
Pittsburgh has a lot of pitching already in place. To start taking steps forward, the Pirates will need an improved batting lineup to get those arms some run support.
O'Hearn wouldn't be a headline-grabbing move, but he'd be a solid start to improving Pittsburgh's chances of winning baseball games going forward.
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