John O’Reilly

JOHN O’REILLY, RIGHT HANDED PITCHER
Born: October 4, 1995
Height: 6′ 5″
Weight: 190
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Signed: Minor league free agent, 2018
How Acquired: Non-Drafted Free Agent
College: Rutgers University
Agent: N/A

WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE
O’Reilly was a swing man as a freshman for Rutgers and stayed in the rotation for his last three years.  His performance didn’t vary much from year to year, apart from his walk and K rates both dropping steadily.  His ERAs over those last three years were 5.23, 5.87 and 5.32.  His walk rate dropped from 4.0 to 2.9 and his K rate from 6.3 to 4.5.  He got hit fairly hard throughout.  When the Pirates signed him, he was a ground ball pitcher who threw 89-90, topping out at 92 MPH, with a solid changeup and a 12-to-6 curve.  By 2019, though, he was sitting in the mid-90s as a reliever.  The Pirates signed him as a non-drafted free agent.

2018
R:  0-1-0, 13.50 ERA, 2.50 WHIP, 2.0 IP, 0.0 BB/9, 0.0 K/9
R+:  2-1-1, 5.33 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 25.1 IP, 4.3 BB/9, 7.5 K/9

O’Reilly pitched twice in the GCL and then moved up to Bristol.  He got into a dozen games there.  All of his pitching came in relief.  He had gopher ball problems at Bristol, allowing one every five innings.

2019
A:  1-2-3, 2.15 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 29.1 IP, 3.1 BB/9, 5.2 K/9
A+:  1-0-2, 0.47 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 19.0 IP, 2.4 BB/9, 6.2 K/9
AA:  0-0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 1.0 IP, 0.0 BB/9, 9.0 K/9

The Pirates assigned O’Reilly to Greensboro in early May and he pitched in relief.  The low ERA is misleading; opponents batted .297 against him and over half the runs he allowed were unearned.  A lot of the damage came in two games in which he allowed nine hits and nine unearned runs in two and a third innings.  In July the Pirates moved him up to Bradenton and he pitched better there over nine, mostly multi-inning outings, allowing just one earned run.  He finished the season with one appearance with Altoona.

2020
DNP

2021
AA:  3-3-3, 5.09 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 35.1 IP, 2.0 BB/9, 5.6 K/9
AAA:  0-2-1, 6.68 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, 32.1 IP, 1.9 BB/9, 3.6 K/9

O’Reilly started off at Altoona, then moved up to Indianapolis at the beginning of August.  He didn’t get good results at either stop.  He walked few batters and generally kept the ball in the park, but his K rates were extremely low and opponents batted .325 against him.  Left-handed batters pounded him for an .897 OPS.  O’Reilly made three starts at the end of the season when Indy was short of pitchers.

2022
AAA:  5-3-1, 5.84 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, 61.2 IP, 3.5 BB/9, 4.2 K/9

O’Reilly spent the season at Indianapolis and had pretty much the same year as 2021.  He missed very few bats and had a lot of baserunners.  He had a very good month in August, but struggled in every other month.

O’Reilly has settled in as an upper-level organizational pitcher, but hasn’t been effective in that role.

CONTRACT INFORMATION
2023: Minor League Contract
PLAYER INFORMATION
Signing Bonus: N/A
MiLB Debut: 2018
MLB Debut:
MiLB FA Eligible: 2024
MLB FA Eligible:
Rule 5 Eligible: 2021
Added to 40-Man:
Options Remaining: 3
MLB Service Time: 0.000
TRANSACTIONS
June 27, 2018: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as a minor league free agent.