For many years, the St. Louis Cardinals waited on outfielder Tyler O’Neill to fulfill his massive potential. The son of the 1975 Mr. Canada winner Terry O’Neill, he was a finely tuned machine – a perfect pairing of power and speed.
Originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners, O’Neill came highly touted when the Cards traded lefthanded pitcher Marco Gonzales to acquire the youngster in 2017. He blossomed quickly, and he eventually won two Gold Glove Awards (in 2020 and 2021) for his prowess in the outfield. With his ability to drive the ball and steal a base from time to time, he had all the makings of a potential 30-30 man at the MLB level.
But things took a turn for the worse in 2023 when he ruffled the feathers of Cards’ manager Oliver Marmol. The Redbirds skipper accused O’Neill of not hustling around third in a game against the Braves. It began a rift that never really got repaired.
“We’ve got a lot of guys playing really hard and that’s not our style of play as far as the effort rounding the bag there,” Marmol said at the time, according to MLB.com’s John Denton. “It’s unacceptable.”
Tyler O’Neill Gets Shipped to the Sox
While there were definite problems between Tyler O’Neill and his manager in St. Louis, other factors went into his getting traded to the Red Sox. He wanted to play every day and finally get an opportunity to show off his impressive list of skills. However, the club didn’t see things shaping up that way.
Firstly, they had a surplus of outfielders. Along with O’Neill, they had Lars Nootbaar, Dylan Carlson, and Jordan Walker – with utilityman Tommy Edman slated to move to centerfield this season. Add in prospects Alec Burleson and Victor Scott II, and the Cards’ cupboard was pretty full.
“[Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John] Mozeliak said O’Neill’s wishes to be an everyday player — which St. Louis also considered him to be — would not have allowed the Cardinals to get him the regular at-bats he was hoping for next season,” Denton wrote.
Secondly, Tyler O’Neill gained a reputation (fair or not) for being injury-prone. After appearing in 138 games in 2021, O’Neill missed plenty of time during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, appearing in just 96 and 72 games, respectively.
So, Mozeliak pulled the trigger on a trade, sending the athletic outfielder to Beantown in exchange for pitchers Nick Robertson and Victor Santos. For the Redbirds, it was a way to get some closure from their years-long situation with O’Neill. He clearly wasn’t going to live up to his expectations in the Gateway City.
However, in Boston? They felt like they got a steal. It didn’t take long before the media picked up on O’Neill’s uncanny athleticism and began predicting that he could become a star for the Sox.
“The Green Monster at Fenway Park should add a collection of new dents off the line-drive missiles coming from O’Neill And, of course, he can get enough loft on the ball to clear any left field wall or fence,” Forbes’ Bernie Pleskoff wrote during the offseason when discussing O’Neill’s “potentially consequential power bat.”
New place, new environment, new results: That’s what Tyler O’Neill was looking for in 2024. And so far, he’s gotten it.
A Return to Busch Stadium
This week, the Red Sox traveled to St. Louis for an inter-league series with the Cardinals. It would be O’Neill’s first time back at his old ballpark. However, he doesn’t seem to have a chip on his shoulder, as he told the local media he has no regrets and that everything worked out the way it should.
However, that’s an easy perspective for the Sox star to have, as he’s put up solid numbers to start off the 2024 campaign and has seemingly found that promising ‘new life’ he was looking for. At least, in the baseball sense of the term.
Tyler O’Neill is currently hitting .254, with 10 home runs and 16 RBIs. And while those aren’t Ruthian numbers, it’s still a pace of nearly 40 HR and 90 RBIs on the season.
If he stays healthy and gets at least 500 at-bats, expect him to get plenty of ALL-Star votes by mid-July… and maybe even some MVP votes at the end of the year. That’s a huge jump from being in a 4-5 man rotation in St. Louis, where he was never going to be a favorite of the current manager.
For the 28-year-old outfielder, the grass has been greener at Fenway Park… and that’s not necessarily a shot at St. Louis, either. Some players just play better in different environments. For O’Neill, it was time to move on and face new challenges elsewhere. Thus far, he’s been passing the test.
He now has the opportunity to become one of the top sluggers on a high-profile team. At this stage of his career, the time is now. O’Neill will be turning 30 soon- the time when players begin their slow decline. So, what happens throughout the rest of this season can shape the type of player he becomes over the next few years – and ultimately, how his MLB career will be remembered.
For O’Neill? Boston has become the perfect landing spot. Maybe it’s the ballpark, maybe it’s the fans, or maybe it’s the clam chowder. But no matter what — it’s clear that he’s found a new life in New England.
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Ryan K Boman is the author of the 2023 book, Pop Music & Peanut Butter: A Collection of Essays about Embracing Life with Laughter & Love. His previous work has appeared at The Miami Herald, SB Nation, Bounding into Sports, and Yardbarker.
Follow him on social media @RyanKBoman.
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