April 19: The Cardinals have formally announced the promotion. Right-hander John Brebbia was optioned to Memphis in place of O’Neill.
April 18: The Cardinals plan to promote outfield prospect Tyler O’Neill, according to MLB.com’s Joe Trezza. A corresponding move is not yet known, but will occur before tomorrow’s scheduled contest.
O’Neill, who was acquired last summer in a swap that sent young pitcher Marco Gonzales to the Mariners, will receive his first shot in the majors. The former third-round pick was widely rated as one of the game’s hundred best prospects entering each of the past two seasons.
Though O’Neill only received a dozen plate appearances this spring owing to injury, he has certainly earned the chance after going on a tear to open the season at Triple-A. Over his 52 plate appearances, the right-handed hitter carries a .388/.385/.837 slash with six home runs. He carried .800+ OPS marks in the upper minors in 2016 and 2017, so there’s little left for him to show at the plate.
Of course, whether he’ll carry that productivity into the majors is the big question — as it is for any prospect. O’Neill draws walks at a decent rate but has shown some swing and miss. If he can make enough contact, O’Neill is viewed as having a chance at becoming an everyday right fielder at the game’s highest level.
It’s also not yet clear whether O’Neill is slated to receive a full opportunity to prove he belongs. He may just provide some depth while the club evaluates Tommy Pham’s status after he experienced groin tightness in last night’s game. The Cards’ outfield mix currently includes three right-handed hitters (Pham, Marcell Ozuna, and Harrison Bader) and the switch-hitting Dexter Fowler, so there isn’t a clear opportunity in the near-term.
Regardless of how long he stays in the Majors this time around, be it for one day or for the remainder of the season, enough time has already passed that the Cardinals will be able to control O’Neill through at least the 2024 season.
*An earlier version of this post mistakenly identified O’Neill as a left-handed hitter.
Yes!!! He is going to be a huge bat! That also makes me mad though cause I was going to go watch him this Saturday
No…he will be a low average, low on base, high k rate bat that runs into some homeruns at times with his power. That’s ok while cheap but not down the road
Ok , thanks for that prediction! Where can I get one of those crystal balls ?
From your moms house
Hey grow a pair
and maybe your wife will stop calling me!
Well at least he is not as bad at any of those metrics as Kyle Schwarber, and he can actually play a position well. Kyle is a starter on a good team. A better player than Kyle will be acceptable on most teams.
He’s run BB rates of around 10 % in the high minors the last few years and he’s much better than Schwarber in the field. He’s a 3 true outcomes hitter and had 3+WAR written all over him.
That’s his floor, he’s a consensus top 100 prospect for a reason.
Consensus top-100 guys still fail a lot of the time. You’re welcome to evaluate a player any way you like, but I’ve had swing path questions about him for years. Maybe he’s fixed them, but I’ve been watching h swing since he was an amateur and I’m unsure he has the approach to make it work in the big leagues.
Thank you Johnny Superscout
Bringing up the Canadian to show these other guys how to handle the cold weather! lol
Wish this woulda waited a day. I was about to draft him in Scoresheet supplemental draft. He probably goes 2nd now and I’ve got 3rd pick
Trading him for Marco has been terrible for Seattle
Um…. how? O’Neil hasn’t done anything yet
Because Marco Gonzales stinks
Time will tell…
Wait until he proves that he can hit Major League pitching after all he did not last too long in Spring Training before he was sent down. The Pacific League is deceptively known for hitting.
Injury is what got him sent down, not performace
How much will he play though with Ozuna/Pham/Fowler?
Not much unless Fowler has a mysterious injury.
Maybe they’re going to DL him just to get him out of the lineup for a week.
This is the Dexter Fowler who sat so long on the 2014/15 free agent market due to his uneven performances leading up to that time. He was at his best in walk/option years in Chicago. I have a feeling Fowler is about to be bit by the “injury bug” in the next week or so.
The only reason they may be considering bringing him up is that Pham has an a groin injury from last night. That leaves them with Fowler, Ozuna & Bader. O’Neil is a bat with questionable defensive skills. His reactions off the bat are fair at best. With Pham hurt one of the other 3 will have to play CF. All three are average defensively at best. He may alternate with Bader occasionally. It worked out well for the cards that today’s game was postponed. The Gravity of Pham’s injury will be the determine factor.
Do you even watch the Cardinals? Bader is a whiz in CF and both Fowler and Ozuna would be fine to fill in there if they want to start O’Neill in RF. They say O’Neill is even capable of playing decently in CF as well. He’ll get to PH every night and start probably 1-2 times over a couple weeks if Pham is hurt.
I scouted Bader at the University of Florida. Guess where he mostly played:
LEFT FIELD.
Kevin Pillar was playing left field in the big leagues not too long ago. Players improve. Bader is a pretty excellent defensive player.
Oh no, not another Scoutseyes! Jimmertee is that you?
That means Greg Holland will go down to the minors to get right.
Ideally.
This is almost certainly not true
#1. Matheny always needs an 8 man bullpen (for terrible reasons)
#2. They are not going to call-up O’Neill to be the 5th OF. Has to be one of the OF’s going on the DL or Bader being sent down.
Well from what I have read it is going to be a bullpen pitcher because they have so many off days they don’t need the 8th man
Read where it’s a reliever being optioned or perhaps disabled
doesn’t really matter because it stated they will not be using an 8 man bullpen because of all the off days
Wrong on #1 and wrong on #2
Greg Holland has an option but in his contract he has the right to veto the option
It’s in his best interest to work on mechanics in AAA than hurt his stats at the major league level. He’s in another contract year so he can’t afford to work through the rough patches in St. Louis
His track record is long enough that if he’s healthy and throwing well down the stretch, having a bad month or two to start the year wont factor much if at all in free agency.
Let’s hope so anyway.
Can he play 2nd base?
Jerry Dipoto showing why he’s the worst GM in baseball
The Mariner organization has an affinity for terrible GM’s…..
Dipoto has given the Mariners their best lineup since 2002! He’s built a playoff caliber bullpen and formidable offense. Starting pitching might kill them, as it does for most teams.
The only way the Mariners see the playoffs is on tv !
I didn’t like the trade either but Haniger will be a better RFer for us. Tyler could probably move to left but if you add Haniger and Marcus it makes us better. I know they were different trades but overall we came out ahead. I don’t think you can call Dipoto the worst GM when he has improved the team with a pretty bad minor system. He has made a few bad trades but many have been good. He has also made some good signings.
O’Neil is a boom or bust corner outfielder who can’t take a walk. There are tons of those out there, and considering that’s not how Dipoto built the offense is there a reason to keep him? Marco has had 3 starts in the season, time will tell to see how he does. We don’t know he will do either.
He had a 10.8% walk rate in 2016 and a 9.7% walk rate in 2017. At 22 years old.. Who do you expect him to be, Joey Votto?
My comparable for him has been and will continue to be Grichuk
He is not even close to Grichuk. O’Neill is faster stronger and strikes out less
If Grichuk walked 10% of the time, he’d have been an all star.
Until O’Neill does anything close to what Haniger has done we are ahead in RF. Haniger was rated the #9 RFer by MLBN this year. O’Neill has away to go to get that. Marco could very well turn into a 3 or 4 pitcher which would be great. If Haniger and O’Neill both turn into all stars and Marco does that I would say we did OK.
We will have another interesting dilemma when Lewis is ready to come up. Who plays LF? Who is trade bait Gamel or Heredia? Or do we send one down and keep him in case of injury?
Marco is barely a 5th SP in an average rotation.
Marco won’t even be in the rotation come the All-Star break! Maybe even before that!
Blah blah blah
What a terrible deal Dipoto made in getting Segura and Haniger for Marte and Walker. Horrible trade getting Dee Gordon for two minor leaguers. Bad deal to get Vincent for free basically.
All GMs miss sometimes but there have been some great deals and some stinkers. The only guy traded that I think is regrettable is Gohara.
I’d like to see him go, he has destroyed the farm system and we have an 8% chance at the playoffs to show for it. That would make it a 4% chance for the ALDS
Our last 2 GMs destroyed the farm system. What did we really have down there that was worth a lot? He turned some of the better prospects into MLB ready players. He improved the team by trading from strength and filling weakness. I have hated to see a few guys go but some have turned out better and proved me wrong. I still hate the Montgomery Vogelbach trade and I don’t like losing Gohara those to me are his worse mistakes.
The team has Lewis and White coming up and is set for years at all the position spots unless there is a horrible injury. We have depth to fill holes for minor injuries. I see Dipoto picking up a starting pitcher or two for next year if the young guys we have don’t step up and prove they belong. We have time to rebuild the crappy farm system Dipoto walked into. hopefully he can get lucky and find some gems on the draft.
As for the stupid comment that the only way Seattle sees the playoffs is on tv. The ALW is going to be a dogfight. Houston is the class of not only the west but the AL. The other 3 teams are all going to fight for 1 maybe 2 WC spots. I doubt we get 2 because we are going to beat each other up all season. But go ahead and sleep in the Mariners that is fine.
.388/.385?
2 SF 1 BB
Which is weird because he has generally walked in the minors.
I’d take a .388 batting average. Enough said.
Tyler is a RH bat. He will lend an intriguing option AGAINST LH pitching if Fowler continues to struggle. And definitely changes the look of the bench
Yes, this was a very shoddy mistake on my part. Edited.
Is this also going to be edited to show that Pham didn’t actually leave the game last night? Was just looked at by trainers? Come on now.
I’m not going to feel as bad about that one, but yes, I’ll fix it.
Trezza thinks a reliever is going down. Probably Brebbia, even though Holland is the one who needs some AAA work.
Ummm…Last I checked, Tyler O’Neill was a right-handed hitter! Has something changed?
I’ve heard holland has one option left and I also heard he would have to approve a minors trip. I’d be scared to pitch him with an eight run lead the way he’s going right now. Anyone have clarification on if he could be sent to AAA?
I’m not sure on this but due of his time of signing and performance can’t they send holland down to get more work he’s obviously isn’t ready plus I don’t think you can use options on him he is past his 6 years if I’m not mistaken means regardless if you have options “left” there null and void when you become a ufa but I may be wrong and any clarification would be nice ^^
O’Neil is a boom or bust corner outfielder who can’t take a walk. There are tons of those out there, and considering that’s not how Dipoto built the offense is there a reason to keep him? Marco has had 3 starts in the season, time will tell to see how he does. We don’t know he will do either.
Exactly my thoughts. Time will tell on Gonzalez and Vogelbach deal as well. All players have many years of control.
But but but Vogelbach was a sure fire HOF according to Cubs fans.
Come on now. Only like 87% of Cubs fans were saying that.
It didn’t make it truer when you posted it the second time!
Double the fun!
LoL
He’s struggling to hit 90 and doesn’t have very good offspeed offerings… plus he’s been injured a lot in the past. Three starts is SSS, but I am seriously questioning his ability.
Cardinals just keep getting better and better and have a slew of young talent. No wonder they are the team of the young century in the NL Central.
Don’t sell them short themed. The cardinals are the team of infinity
Trying win is the right way to play any game. It’s what the Cards do well year in and year out. The wrong way to play is to lose on purpose like the cubs did for 5 years in order to improve. That’s just morally and a mentally wrong. Disgusting really!
Actually it got them a World Series what, three straight division titles and NLCS appearances? Oh, and set them up for the future?
That’s all done now. They are clearly in a very steep decline as their play clearly indicates. I know it’s hard to take for you once in a hundred year cub fans but move on. It’s over.
All that was done by cardinals without tanking. Except they didn’t have three straight NLCS. They had 4. Cubs got their WS and have been/ still are good for 4 years now. But they still have not developed any pitching. Their farm is depleted. So unless they restock farm( which is hard when you aren’t drafting in top 3 anymore)only way to stay on top is shell out money to keep Bryant, Russell, Baez, etc. and for future free agents so if you want to be the Yankees or Red Sox or dodgers and buy your titles, great. Meanwhile cards will compete every year and constantly put best team out there trying to win and also rebuild at same time. This really isn’t a cards-cubs thing. That’s on the field. Fact is tanking is bad for integrity of baseball and because of the cubs, more teams are doing it.
What future do cubs have beyond their current roster?
Right, but hacking other teams databases I suppose is ok over the span of 2+ years.
not to mention even trading away players now seems like it won’t work…for example they could have traded away Schwaber or Russel to replenish their farm…but with the way they are playing there is no way they get the talent they could have. so now they have really no talent to trade to replenish the farm and no farm to help out when injurys happen…they will still be good for a couple of years but the future is not that bright
lol I love when people bring this up…it was one person who went rogue and had nothing to do with the integrity of the organization…plus the cardinals gained pretty much nothing from it…get new material
I’m not even a fan of either team, but to say the Cubs have no future outside of their current roster is ridiculous. They have an incredibly young core and are one of the richest teams in the league.
Who that’s not on current roster do cubs have to be excited about……
The league is catching up and figuring out that young core…Their pitching is on the down slide…the two players to be excited about are Conteras and Bryant…I think Rizzo is crashing back down to earth…Rizzo is a great player but he is leveling out…They are eventually going to have to pay everyone or trade them away…they have nothing in the minors but a few low level prospects…I don’t care how much money they have their trajectory is not that bright. Theo is going to do the same thing he did with the Red Sox….He broke a curse but then the organization crashed…fried chicken and beer in the clubhouse soon enough
Gawd stop with this volcano hot takes
Yup! They will be set for the next 108 years!
It was an employee who did it, not the Cardinals as a team. Plus it was one team only . If your gonna troll, at least get the facts right!
Did the Cubs lose on purpose all those other years
AND years AND years?
if you can hit, it doesn’t matter if you bat right or left
If Grichuk walked 10% of the time, he’d have been an all star.
Three months of games and this is already looking like a lopsided trade. What were the Mariners thinking trading O’Neill for Gonzales.
It was lopsided once the deal was complete. Mariners will be lucky if Marco will have as good of a career as Horacio Ramirez.
Meanwhile, Tyler becomes the new Ryan Braun.