Hays goes big with four hits for Baysox

Some players might have been disappointed to start the season at Double-A after reaching the Majors the previous year. That wasn't Austin Hays' mind-set.
"I would say that I worked really hard this offseason and that was my goal was to come in and play really well during Spring Training and break with the team," the Orioles' fourth-ranked prospect said. "But the way Spring Training went and how I started the season here, I think it was for the best. I don't think I was ready, but now that I've had some time to get my body healthy and get right and make some adjustments, I think it was a smart move and a good decision by the Orioles to allow me to work on some things and get myself right before throwing me back in there."
Judging by Friday, those adjustments have paid off. Hays homered, doubled twice, and drove in three runs and scored three times while going 4-for-4 to lead Double-A Bowie to a 6-4 win over Erie at UPMC Park.

Gameday box score
To this point, 2018 has been a bit of a lost season for Hays. He's hit .238/.268/.393 over 60 games -- 51 with the Baysox and nine rehabbing with Class A Short Season Aberdeen. Injuries have been a factor.
"I think it played a little bit of a role, but for the most [part] I was pretty healthy once I came back from the shoulder injury I was dealing with during Spring Training," he said. "I'd say the biggest part of it was because I missed so much time during Spring Training I didn't really get all the at-bats and kind of the rhythm and flow of the game I was able to get last year [when] I was healthy all Spring Training. So I was kind of dealing with the timing issues and just the feeling of the game to start the season. Usually, you get those kinks out during Spring Training."
For Hays, who also made a sliding catch in center field Friday, it was the first four-hit game of the year. The 2016 third-round pick had a five-hit game for Class A Advanced Frederick on June 18, 2017 against Lynchburg.

Hays hopes the red-letter performance was a step toward finishing his season on a high note. In 2017, the Jacksonville University product broke out in a big way, hitting .329 with 32 homers and 32 doubles between Class A Advanced Frederick and Bowie, then became the first player from his Draft class to reach the Majors when the Orioles called him up in September.
"I don't want to say it's surprising. You know that's your goal, to move up as fast as possible, but I don't think anybody really thinks that it's going to happen that fast, as fast as it did last year. I would say the hardest part is the ability to make adjustments quickly," he said.
"Considering I played in short-season, then I skipped [Class] A and started in Frederick and then at the All-Star break I went up to Double-A. ... I've seen a lot of different pitchers and a lot of different teams. So then when I had gotten called up we played a lot of the same teams, and I faced a lot of the same pitching quite a few times and they started making adjustments to me at the plate. So I think I hadn't had the opportunity to make those adjustments really fast. Coming back here to start the year, this is where I was ... so I was getting pitched a lot differently since the coaching staffs played against me, so I was familiar to them."
The 23-year-old overcame his Spring Training shoulder injury only to land on the disabled list with an ailing ankle two months into the season. He's 12-for-33 (.364) with two homers and 11 RBIs in eight games since rejoining the Baysox on Aug. 7.
Although he had a tepid start to the year, he didn't make any big adjustments to his game from last year.
"I didn't change anything mentally or physically or purposely try to change anything. I was really happy with my season last year and I wanted to try to continue what I been doing since I got drafted, because I experienced a lot of success," Hays said.
"But I had some mechanical things that for whatever reason -- this game's hard, you play every day -- the smallest thing can make everything look way different. So I had some stuff going on that, physically, at the plate, wasn't allowing me to do the same things I had done before with the same mind-set. So other people looking in, I could definitely understand why that's what they would see and that would be their understanding of it. But me, personally, I didn't try to change anything or make any adjustments. It was just something of trying to find the feeling that I had last season."
Hays got things started quickly against the SeaWolves, doubling to left field in the second inning to plate top Orioles prospect Yusniel Díaz. He scored on a base hit by Anderson Feliz.

In the fourth, Hays hit a hard liner to center for a single. After second-ranked Orioles prospect Ryan Mountcastle tripled and Diaz doubled in the sixth, the right-handed hitter launched a ball over the wall in left-center.
In the final frame, Hays followed Diaz's single with a double and came home on a single by Erick Salcedo.

The beneficiary of Hays' outburst was Orioles No. 6 prospect Dillon Tate (6-4), who got his first win in the organization after being acquired from the Yankees last month in the Zach Britton trade. The right-hander allowed four runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings, striking out three without issuing a walk.
No. 11 Tigers prospectJake Rogers singled twice and scored a run.
Spencer Turnbull (4-7) gave up five runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings for Erie.