Saturday, June 28

Welcome to another edition of the Orioles Beat newsletter. The O’s will play two more games vs. the Rays this weekend before hitting the road for a trip featuring stops in Arlington and Atlanta.

BALTIMORE -- During Phase 1 of 2025 MLB All-Star voting, Orioles designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn received 1,762,125 votes. It’s a total that ranked eighth among American League players and placed the 31-year-old among impressive company with some of the game’s top stars, such as Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh and others.

“I was blown away by the amount of votes when I saw it. Very humbling, awesome,” O’Hearn said. “We’ve still got to get through Phase 2, but yeah, very cool. I was blown away by seeing that number.”

Phase 2 of All-Star voting begins Monday at noon ET and ends Wednesday at noon ET, with fans eligible to vote once per day.

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Baltimore has two finalists: O’Hearn, as well as second baseman Jackson Holliday. Neither has previously been selected as an All-Star.

Judge (AL) and Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (National League) have already been named starters for the Midsummer Classic (July 15 at Truist Park in Atlanta) by receiving the most votes in their respective leagues in Phase 1. The rest of the starters will be determined by the head-to-head voting matchups in Phase 2.

O’Hearn is matched up against Yankees DH Ben Rice. Holliday is facing off with Tigers second baseman Gleyber Torres.

In Phase 1, O’Hearn’s vote total was well ahead of the number received by Rice (674,120). But both players will start at zero at the beginning of Phase 2.

For a late-blooming player like O’Hearn -- who struggled for the majority of his five-year tenure with the Royals from 2018-22, before becoming a surprise contributor for the O’s ‘23 AL East champion team -- an All-Star nod would be greatly appreciated.

“It would mean everything,” said O’Hearn, who is looking to become the first Oriole to start an All-Star Game at DH since Nelson Cruz in 2014. “I’ve been the last guy on the worst team in baseball, I’ve hit in the middle of the lineup on a team that was considered one of the best teams in the American League. 

“I’ve seen a lot of angles in this game, and to be able to be an All-Star, it would be shocking to say. Humbling, amazing. It would be a huge blessing, an honor.”

O’Hearn said his mom, Christine, and her friends near her home just outside of Buckeye, Ariz., have been campaigning for votes in recent weeks. Meanwhile, O’Hearn is getting plenty of All-Star support inside the Orioles’ clubhouse.

“We love ‘O,’” Holliday said. “He’s kind of the steady hand, and his intensity and competitiveness is definitely something that leaks into everybody. He’s a very important part of this team, and we’re lucky to have him.”

Unlike O’Hearn, Holliday is still early in his MLB career. After a disappointing 60-game rookie campaign in 2024, the 21-year-old has had a sophomore breakout in ‘25, showing exactly why he was the No. 1 overall pick in the ‘22 MLB Draft and was once MLB Pipeline’s top prospect.

Holliday’s dad, Matt, was a seven-time All-Star during his 15-year big league career. Now, the younger Holliday has an opportunity to again attend the Midsummer Classic, only this time as a player representative. He’d be the first Oriole to start at second base in the ASG since Brian Roberts in 2005.

“I think he’s been incredible. Sometimes, I forget how young he is, because he’s just so mature and plays the game the right way, plays hard,” O’Hearn said of Holliday. “He plays mature beyond his years, and I think he’s very deserving to be an All-Star.”

Trevor Rogers achieved a new feat in his 87th MLB start on Monday night by pitching eight scoreless innings in the Orioles’ 6-0 win over the Rangers at Camden Yards. The 27-year-old left-hander’s previous career high was 7 2/3, a mark he reached May 19, 2021, at Philadelphia during his NL All-Star campaign for Miami.

Rogers has made only three starts for Baltimore this year, and two have been scoreless. The southpaw also blanked the Red Sox for 6 1/3 innings in his season debut during a spot start at Fenway Park on May 24.

With a 1.62 ERA in the big leagues in 2025, Rogers has looked much improved from last year, when he recorded a 7.11 ERA over four starts after being traded from the O’s to the Marlins. He was then optioned to Triple-A Norfolk for the remainder of the season as the Orioles seized an AL Wild Card berth.

“At the end of the day, it’s about production, and the way the team was playing at the time, I just wasn’t getting the job done. Got to own up to that,” Rogers said. “[Pitching coach Drew French] and I had a conversation right after I got optioned and he saw the potential in me even when I probably didn’t. He said, ‘We have a plan here, and you’re the future of this thing,’ and that kind of put in perspective, OK, this isn’t just, ‘We traded for you and it didn’t work out, now go sit in Triple-A.’ It was like, ‘We have a plan of getting you back to where we think you can be, and we’re committed to that plan.’ 

“I think we’re finally seeing that come to fruition.”

For fans attending Sunday’s 1:35 p.m. game vs. the Rays, the Orioles are holding a collection drive for new and gently used baseball and softball equipment. The materials will be gathered at Gates A, D and H from when gates open until the bottom of the second inning.

Tickets for the game remain on sale now at Orioles.com/Tickets. 

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