By: Nick Ashbourne

Canadian Baseball Network

As a minor-league baseball player, if you're lucky you get one breakout year where things click and you start to put it all together. At the age of 21, Seattle Mariners prospect Tyler O'Neill has already had two.

Last season, the Maple Ridge, B.C., native hit .260/.316/.558 with 32 home runs and 87 RBIs for the Class-A Bakersfield Blaze. The impressive display of power put O'Neill on the radar, but there were reasons to doubt if his breakout was legitimate.

For one, he put up those numbers in the extraordinarily hitter-friendly California League, a circuit that has produced many one-hit wonder prospects. His plate discipline also threw up red flags as he struck out 30.5 percent of time with a walk rate of only 6.5%.

It would have been easy to see O'Neill as an all-or-nothing slugger coming into the season, but the season he's having with the Double-A Jackson Generals is showing he's something more.

The right-handed outfielder is hitting .303/.371/.535 in 86 games with 17 home runs and 69 RBI. That performance rocketed him up to 45th on Baseball America's midseason prospect list and earned him a trip to the 2016 Futures Game in San Diego.

"It was definitely a different atmosphere than you get in Double-A," O'Neill recalls. "But it's just something to take in and enjoy."

The Canadian went 0-for-2 hitting cleanup for the victorious World Futures game in what he describes as a laid-back affair. While players, coaches and executives descended on the Southern California city, O'Neill mainly enjoyed the beautiful weather and the town itself rather than trying to hobknob with the baseball elites.

"I'm not really like that," he says.

O'Neill's focus lies with rounding out his game with the Generals. He's already proven he can hit the ball a long way, now he's more concerned with consistently making contact. So far it's working as he's bumped his strikeout rate down to 24.7 percent and raised his average above .300.

“I think I’m taking what I’m given a little better," he says. "You don’t have to hit a home run every time. If I get a fastball the other way, I’m taking it to the opposite field.”

The former third-round pick has also shown increasing patience at the plate with a healthy 9.5% walk rate, some of which has come due to other teams' respect for his power.

“It’s been pretty obvious a couple times this year, but I’m going to take what they give me," O'Neill says. "If that’s four walks so be it.”

The last piece of the puzzle is defence, where he's shown improvement by already exceeding last year's outfield assist total with seven, and keeping errors to a minimum with two.

“Defence is always a focus," he says. “There are two sides of the ball, offence and defence, and I want to be respected both ways.”

Ultimately it's O'Neill's strength and bat speed that are going to continue to fascinate scouts. Power is his signature tool and that's not changing anytime soon. He's provided reminders throughout the year with home runs to the deepest parts of Double-A ballparks.

O'Neill can be special if he sands off the rougher edges of his game and lets that power shine through. He's already taken a step in that direction this season, and that's his priority going forward.

“I’m showing that I’m more of an all-around player this year by playing better defence and hitting for average not just power," he says. "So I just want to keep this going in the second half, carry it into next year and see what happens.”