Ryan O'Hearn Explains Theory on Why Yankees May Have Influenced Orioles LF Wall Change in B/R Video
Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder and first baseman Ryan O'Hearn feels the New York Yankees are the reason the Baltimore Orioles moved the left-field wall at Camden Yards out from 2022 to 2024.
Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts asked O'Hearn, who played for the Orioles from 2023 to 2025, about the reason behind the left-field change around the 10:17 mark of Saturday's episode of Bleacher Report's On Base with Mookie Betts.
"Apparently because the Yankees got massive right-handed hitters," O'Hearn answered. "That's what everyone kind of thought."
O'Hearn added, "It didn't work."
Betts agreed: "It kind of hurt everybody."
The Orioles played three seasons with the adjusted left-field wall before pulling in parts of the wall ahead of the 2025 season.
The club created "Walltimore" ahead of the 2022 season when they pushed back the left-field wall by more than 26 feet and made it almost six feet taller, per MLB.com's Mike Petriello.
The changes at Camden Yards resulted in a projected 138 lost home runs over the next three seasons, per Statcast data cited by MLB.com's Jake Rill.
That included 72 hits that would have been home runs for the Orioles, compared to 65 that would have made it out of the park for other teams, per Rill.
The Yankees, which led MLB in home runs for two of those three seasons, went 12-11 at Camden Yards while the taller left-field wall was in place.
Aaron Judge hit two home runs in his first game at the re-designed stadium in May 2022, although the new field design robbed him of a third. Judge said at the time he saw the new field design as a "travesty."
The wall was moved in by nine to 20 feet and lowered by at least five inches ahead of the 2025 season.
The Orioles ultimately haven't been able to slow their AL East rivals down with or without the raised left-field wall. The Yankees are once more leading MLB in home runs through the first 68 games of the 2026 season thanks in part to Judge 17's homers.
The Yankees (41-27) are currently vying with the Tampa Bay Rays (40-26) for the top of the AL East, while the Orioles sit fourth in the division with a 34-37 record heading into Saturday.
