Austin Hays off to a hot start this spring

Austin Hays was drafted by the Orioles in the third round of the 2016 Amateur Draft. He was taken due to his career numbers at Jacksonville University – slashing .350/.406/.655 as a junior, with 16 doubles, two triples, 16 home runs and 42 RBI as a junior.

Hays has rocketed through the Orioles Minor League system quicker than Anthony Santander’s three-run home run yesterday. He’s a career .300/.337/.523 hitter in 241 games in the minors and hasn’t even made an appearance with Triple-A Norfolk.

He was the organization’s Minor League player of the year in 2017, batting .329 with 32 home runs and 95 RBI in 128 games with High-A Frederick and Double-A Bowie. He played so well he received a call-up to the majors on September 5, 2017. He only had one at-bat in his Major League debut against the New York Yankees, but played in 20 games that season. In just 63 plate appearances, Hays hit .217 (13-for-60) with one home run and eight RBI.

Last season was tough for Hays as the beginning and the end of his season were plagued with injury. He only appeared in 75 games last year with Low-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie and hit .235 with 12 home runs. His season ended early due to an ankle injury that required surgery to repair.

He’s recovered from his ankle surgery though and at FanFest in January, he told MASN’s Roch Kubatko about what seems to be his biggest motivator for the upcoming 2019 season. “I learned that you can’t make the club if you’re not on the field,” Hays said. “That’s been my main focus this year is just to get healthy and go in mentally healthy and physical healthy. Everybody’s going to get opportunities. It’s a good time to be in Baltimore for a young player. I feel happy with where I am right now and I think I’ve done a good job getting healthy.”

All signs are currently pointing towards Hays being 100% healthy. He came into camp with his eyes set on winning a job on the 25-man roster. So far this spring, he’s certainly making an impact. Hays has played in five games this spring, including yesterday’s 7-5 come from behind victory against the Detroit Tigers.

He’s picked up a hit in each of his five games, with home runs now in back-to-back starts and is sporting a .400 on-base percentage through 15 plate appearances. Hays caught up with Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer yesterday afternoon during the MASN telecast to discuss how the spring has been going so far for him.

“It’s going really good so far,” Hays said. “There’s a good vibe around camp, everybody’s positive, having a good time out here, winning some games and competing.” Hays answered the expected questions about his ankle right off the bat. “My ankle’s feeling good and I’m just trying to get in the groove,” Hays said. Hays talked about what this camp means to him and what he wants for the upcoming season.

“I think it’s just getting back to where I was,” Hays said of what camp means to him. “I came into pro-ball and I built a lot of momentum and I rode that out through 2017 and then it just seemed like I couldn’t get much to go right last year. I’m just trying to get that momentum back and get back to a positive state of mind, be healthy and provide for this team, come out and compete.”

“I have 100% confidence in myself that I can go out and compete and play in the big leagues so that’s what I’m trying to prove this camp. I’m trying to break with this team and win some games with them this year.”

Getting back to his ankle, given that it ended his season in 2018, Hays wasn’t sure when he would recover from it. “I actually wasn’t sure until we really got down here and started playing games,” he said. “It’s tough to test being on cleats five hours-six hours out of the day and going out playing in games and just the overall reps of what you get during Spring Training. I didn’t really know that it was good until I got here and just starting doing those things.”

Hays has a great opportunity – as long as he can stay healthy – to fly north to New York with the team in 24 days. If he continues hitting the way he has early in Grapefruit League action, there’s no question he’ll be part of Brandon Hyde’s 25-man roster.

“Every rep matters. It’s a new staff, [a] new front office. It’s a clean slate so-to-speak. Every day you go out you have a chance to make a good impression on them so, I’m just going out and just competing and doing what you can do, just be yourself.”