By Greg Echlin

In his short time with the Kansas City Royals, first baseman Ryan O’Hearn has shown that he plugs the gaps for extra bases and with fence-clearing power.  That’s always been his modus operandi since the Royals drafted him four years ago.

    But in the organization there’s been some doubt about him.

    O’Hearn knows that teammate Whit Merrifield went through a similar process as they worked their way through the Royals farm system.  Merrifield has made the best of it with his second straight 10-homer, 30-stolen base season which puts him in elite Royals company.  Amos Otis, Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran were the previous three to do it.

    O’Hearn wants to follow suit.

    “I’m here,” O’Hearn declared before a recent home game.  “I always wanted to be able to play at this stage and even be in this clubhouse with these guys coming up.”

    Each at a critical stage in their respective careers, Merrifield and O’Hearn found themselves excluded from the Royals’ 40-man roster and, consequently, exposed to other major league teams with a chance to grab them in the winter’s Rule V draft.  In both cases, no other teams took them and the Royals’ gambles paid off.

    “I was definitely aware of that.  J.J. (Royals VP of Player Personnel J.J. Picollo) mentioned it and we had a conversation,” said O’Hearn, who was promoted to the major leagues on July 31 and homered in his first at-bat against former Royals pitcher James Shields in Chicago.

    When asked about his reaction to being left off the 40-man roster last winter, O’Hearn responded, “I was definitely disappointed and I used it as motivation.”

    O’Hearn says he knew the day the Rule V draft took place during baseball’s Winter Meetings last December.

    “I had my phone on my that morning and it was another one of those deals,” said O’Hearn.  “If something would have happened and I got an opportunity elsewhere, it would have been awesome.  But I’m happy it didn’t happen.”

    With the Royals trading Lucas Duda to Atlanta for cash considerations, O’Hearn figures to get more playing time before the season ends.