Counter: Hays really wasn’t that good in the 1st half last year either. He produced, but was aided by a .389 BABIP in the 1st half, that returned to something closer to his career average (.303) in the second half (.288).
Not to say this is who he is now, but I’d say he’s a slightly below average hitter overall who is useful as a platoon partner on this team. The talk about sending him down is silly, but I think Hyde now rightly sees he’s not an every day player given our other options.