Trade details: San Diego Padres acquired 1B Ryan O’Hearn and OF Ramón Laureano from the Baltimore Orioles for LHP Boston Bateman, RHP Tyson Neighbors, RHP Tanner Smith, SS Cobb Hightower, UT Brandon Butterworth and 1B/OF Victor Figueroa
The Padres’ second deal of deadline day makes a lot more sense than the first, as they addressed their biggest problem, their offense, and while they gave up a lot of prospect depth here it’s more in-line with the return than what they gave up in the Mason Miller/J.P. Sears deal.
Ryan O’Hearn is a very good platoon first baseman who’s hit .283/.347/.464 since Baltimore acquired him for a song before the 2023 season. He’s a better version of Gavin Sheets, who has more starts at DH than anyone else for the Padres this year, and the trade should get Trenton Brooks off the major-league roster entirely, as all three of these guys are left-handed. O’Hearn can play first, albeit not that well, and does need a right-handed caddy.
Outfielder Ramón Laureano is having a career year at age 30, hitting .290/.355/.529, and is an immediate, substantial upgrade over the left field mess at Petco; the Padres’ left fielders in aggregate have hit .229/.283/.330, and Laureano has more than twice as many homers as that group in over 100 fewer PA. Also, he has a cannon. This deal should net the Padres two to three wins the rest of the way, and perhaps some value in October. O’Hearn is a free agent after the season, while Laureano has a club option for 2026.
All five players going to Baltimore were drafted in 2024, highlighted by Boston Bateman and Cobb Hightower, who went in the second and third rounds, respectively.
Bateman is a giant left-handed starter (listed at 6-foot-8, 240 pounds) who can show mid-90s with a plus slider, coming back across his body and working with a lower arm slot than he had last year before the draft. There’s some effort there and he gets out of sync easily with his delivery, although that’s typical of a lot of pitchers this size. He’s a big data guy as well with the extension he gets in his delivery. His platoon stats this year in Low A are fun — he’s walked 11.5 percent of right-handed batters he’s faced, and 0.0 percent of lefties. He’s faced 74 left-handed batters and, yes, walked none. I wonder how long he can go before walking his first.
Hightower was a big name after the draft as he impressed scouts in the Arizona bridge league and instructional league. His official pro debut this year hasn’t been great, with a .239/.363/.314 line in 40 games in Low A after he missed a month with a hamstring injury. He showed great contact skills last year and that has held this year, with nearly as many walks as strikeouts in that small sample, but obviously no power yet. He was older at the draft and turned 20 in spring training this year, putting a little more pressure on him to start showing more hard contact. He’s at shortstop now and could stay there.
The other players are closer to throw-ins than prospects.
Right-hander Tyson Neighbors throws his fastball at 94-97 and has a plus slider and 45 control (out of the 20-80 scouting scale) if you like him, with his walk rate jumping after his promotion to Double A. Right-hander Tanner Smith, a graduate of the finest university in the western hemisphere, has a promising curveball and enough velocity to maybe be a middle reliever, but that arm action isn’t going to produce a lot of strikes.
Utility man Brandon Butterworth has hit .267/.327/.455 this year as a 22-year-old in High A, swinging very hard and trying to pull the ball to left … which is probably the right approach for him given the lack of another average tool. I think he’s an org bat but I also wouldn’t be shocked if he poked 20+ homers in Double A next year. I heard the Padres waffled before including him.
First baseman Victor Figueroa was an 18th-round pick last season out of a JUCO who began the year in the Arizona Complex League and after hitting well in 11 games there has hit .262/.375/.456 as a 21-year-old in Low A.
(Photo of Laureano: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
