Orioles fans, we’ve finally made it to the first spring training game of 2025. The O’s will take the field in just a few short hours to take on the Pirates in the first of what will hopefully be a couple dozen interesting spring games before heading back north to Baltimore.

And just to be perfectly clear, there’s going to be a whole lot more noise than there is signal in any of these games. But as the Orioles get set to take the field for the first time on Saturday, there will be one notable absence from the lineup.

The Orioles signed Tyler O’Neill to a 3-year, $49.5 million contract earlier this winter and though the guys down in Florida raved about the slugger’s conditioning, O’Neill isn’t in the starting lineup on Saturday. The righty said earlier this offseason that he expects to be the everyday right fielder once we get underway in Baltimore and the O’s treatment of Heston Kjerstad suggests that they believe that to be the case as well.

Orioles top free agent signing Tyler O’Neill missing from first spring training lineup

But in the first spring matchup, notably against a RHP in young Pirates’ starter Carmen Mlodzinski, O’Neill won’t play. Is this just a coincidence? Almost certainly.

There are dozens of reasons why O’s manager Brandon Hyde would choose to play Ramon Laureano and Dylan Carlson in the outfield corners today. And as we work our way through spring training, we can be confident in saying that all of these guys will get their opportunities and take them as they come.

But there’s still a small voice in the back of my head that’s curious about the Orioles’ plans for O’Neill in the upcoming season. Throughout his career, O’Neill has been significantly more effective at the plate against lefties than he has against righties. His splits aren’t so bad to warrant a strict platoon role, but the difference is stark.

O’Neill has a touch over 500 plate appearances against lefties in his career and he’s hit a stellar .270/.376/.547 that’s good for a 152 wRC+.

Against right handers, that line drops to .239/.305/.446, which is just a touch over league average. He’s not so bad against righties that you can’t afford to keep him in the lineup but he’s an All Star caliber hitter when facing southpaws. From that perspective, you can see why the Orioles brought him aboard.

At the end of the day, O’Neill being absent from the lineup today is almost certainly nothing. He’ll surely be available for Hyde and the O’s moving forward and we should expect to see him get plenty of reps this spring. But we’ll keep an eye on his usage just in case the Orioles decide to surprise us.

Outside of O’Neill, the lineup is fairly straight forward. Gunnar Henderson, Cedric Mullins, and Jordan Westburg make up the top three, Jackson Holliday finds himself in the seven hole, and Gary Sanchez will work behind the plate and catch starter Albert Suarez.