BIOGRAPHY
Tyler Alan O'Neill was born on June 22, 1995, in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. He is an outfielder in the MLB.
O'neIl has represented Canada in international play, winning a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American games. From the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia, the Seattle Mariners selected O'Neill in the third round of the 2013 amateur draft. In 2016, he was the Southern League Most Valuable Player (MVP) along with winning the Southern League championship with the Jackson Generals. On July 21, 2017, the Mariners traded him to the Cardinals. Later that year, he won the Pacific Coast League championship as a member of the Memphis Redbirds.
The Seattle Mariners selected O'Neill in the third round of the 2013 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the Mariners and made his professional debut with the Arizona League Mariners.He spent 2016 with the Jackson Generals of the Southern League, where he batted .293 with 24 home runs and 102 RBIs. Jackson won the Southern League championship after a league best 84–55 record, and O'Neill was the Southern League Most Valuable Player (MVP). He began 2017 with the Tacoma Rainers of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League (PCL).
On July 21, 2017, the St. Louis Cardinals acquired O'Neill. O'Neill finished 2017 with a combined .246 batting average, 31 home runs, and 95 RBIs in 130 games between Tacoma and Memphis. The Redbirds became the 2017 PCL champions after defeating the El Paso Chihuahuas in five games in the league championship final, giving O'Neill consecutive minor league championships with two different organizations at two different levels.
MLB.com ranked O'Neill as St Louis' fourth-best prospect going into the 2018 season. In 61 games for the Cardinals that year, O'Neill batted .254 with nine home runs and 23 RBIs.
O'Neill returned as St. Louis' starting left fielder in 2021. On September 20, O'Neill was named the National League Player of the Week after leading the Cardinals to a 6-0 week while batting .391 with three home runs, nine runs scored, and a 1.308 OPS. He was later named the National League Player of the Month for September after hitting .328/.377/.731 with 13 home runs, thirty RBIs, and a 1.108 OPS. O'Neill finished the 2021 season with 482 at-bats over 138 games, slashing .286/.352/.560 with 34 home runs, eighty RBIs, and 15 stolen bases. He won his second consecutive Gold Glove Award in left field, being one of five Cardinals (an MLB record) to win the award.
On January 13, 2023, O'Neill agreed to a one-year, $4.95 million contract with the Cardinals, avoiding salary arbitration.
Tyler O'Neill was traded to the Boston Red Sox during the 2023 offseason.
An avid weightlifter, O'Neill has been recorded on video quarter-squatting as much as 585 pounds (265 kg). He was given the nickname "Popeye" while playing in the Southern League. O'Neill's father, Terry, was named Mr. Canada (an honor given to the nation's best body builder) in 1975.
