Austin Hays 2019

[LookinUp]

2 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I'm not a believer.  

Me neither, but I'm just not sure. I'd like to see him do what LTO's said, which is just be healthy and establish what type of player he actually is. Some people are acting like they're expecting him to be the O's CF in the second half this year. I guess that could happen, and it might even work, but I'd be hesitant to reward him with a ML promotion before I saw him start to master AAA. I'd like to see 3 sold months there, which essentially means the rest of this AAA season.

[orioles22]

That was what I was trying to say. If he's expected. to help in Baltimore, I'd like to see him play well in Norfolk.

Usually someone on a rehab assignment goes back to where they were originally sent and it appears the Orioles were expecting him to play AAA this year.

[ChuckS]

4 hours ago, orioles22 said:

That was what I was trying to say. If he's expected. to help in Baltimore, I'd like to see him play well in Norfolk.

Usually someone on a rehab assignment goes back to where they were originally sent and it appears the Orioles were expecting him to play AAA this year.

Maybe.  Maybe not.  Those March moves are paper moves and mean very little and you keep holding onto that.  The minor league rosters are not set until the first week of April.

We'll find out soon enough when he gets out of Frederick.  2 for 2 tonight so far with a home run so maybe he's bumped up over the weekend. 

[orioles22]

He may go to Bowie - no way for me to know. I just don't see the point of sending him to Norfolk (on paper or not) if you didn't plan on him being there.

[Frobby]

2 for 4 with a homer and 3 RBI today.     Seems like he’s shaking the rust off.   I guess he’ll get reassigned by the weekend.   

[Cumberbundy]

 

 

[hoosiers]

IMO, Hays should be in the majors.  He is ready.  

If the Os are going to mess around with him at Bowie or Norfolk for a bit, that's fine.  He just needs to keep raking and force his way up as soon as possible.  It would be nice to get Hays 200 ABs in Bmore to get ready for next season.

[joelala]

4 minutes ago, hoosiers said:

IMO, Hays should be in the majors.  He is ready.  

If the Os are going to mess around with him at Bowie or Norfolk for a bit, that's fine.  He just needs to keep raking and force his way up as soon as possible.  It would be nice to get Hays 200 ABs in Bmore to get ready for next season.

What’s next season?

[Frobby]

8 hours ago, hoosiers said:

IMO, Hays should be in the majors.  He is ready.  

If the Os are going to mess around with him at Bowie or Norfolk for a bit, that's fine.  He just needs to keep raking and force his way up as soon as possible.  It would be nice to get Hays 200 ABs in Bmore to get ready for next season.

He’s ready?    He’s never played AAA, has a .604 OPS in an A+ rehab assignment right now, and had a .703 OPS in AA last year.    In his only major league stint, he had a .555 OPS.     That screams “ready” to you?

Perhaps there is an alternative universe where Hays doesn’t get hurt in 2018, pulverizes AA pitching for another 4-6 weeks last year and then does the same in AAA after a promotion.    In that alternative universe, Hays is ready.

Or maybe in another alternative universe, Hays doesn’t get hurt this March, and follows up his terrific spring training with a couple of months of dominance at Norfolk.   Then maybe he’d be ready now.   

But in the real world, where we live, injuries derailed Hays’ progress in 2018 and have forced him to sit for 5-6 weeks at the start of 2019.    And because of that, he’s not ready.    

Crossing my fingers that Hays outburst the last two days signifies that he’s rounding into form, and will soon be dominating in AA or AAA.    Then maybe, if everything goes perfectly, he’ll be ready for the majors at the end of July.     

[LookinUp]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Crossing my fingers that Hays outburst the last two days signifies that he’s rounding into form, and will soon be dominating in AA or AAA.    Then maybe, if everything goes perfectly, he’ll be ready for the majors at the end of July.     

It seems like one of two things is happening re: Orioles fans right now. Both are made worse by the failures of the ML team.

1. People are over rating spring training performance. It's a small sample size when pitchers are rounding into form. It's next to meaningless, but the impressions were made.

2. People are less interested in minor league production than they are projection. I actually think this is a fair point, and I'm guessing more where hoosiers comes from. For Hays, I think a lot of people think he's a dynamic player who would already be in the show if he weren't derailed by injury. They may be right. I'm personally with you on this though. Show me the production in the minors. Identify what else needs to be worked on and do it down there.

I hate to say it, but I don't want the best team the O's could field today. I want them to take every day they need to fix every issue they can fix in the minors, save on service time where it's potentially useful, and gradually build the best organization that way that they can. It's what we haven't done for 40 years, and the results show.

[orioles22]

10 hours ago, hoosiers said:

IMO, Hays should be in the majors.  He is ready.  

If the Os are going to mess around with him at Bowie or Norfolk for a bit, that's fine.  He just needs to keep raking and force his way up as soon as possible.  It would be nice to get Hays 200 ABs in Bmore to get ready for next season.

Two good days? He's around .200 in A ball.

I would like to see him in Norfollk soon, but I'd like to see him there until September

[orioles22]

On 5/20/2019 at 11:25 PM, ChuckS said:

He hasn't been to Norfolk before unless it was for a college game or as a tourist. 

I'd like to see him sent to Bowie once he gets going a little bit here in Frederick.  4 for 28 doesn't do it for me.  I need to see him get hot for a few games straight at least. 

Norfolk is full of outfielders at the moment anyway.  

I was following the Bowie game today and started looking at outfielders - they have McKenna, Nichting, Jarrett and Rifaela, plus Diaz is on the DL. The Norfolk guys appear to be more on the back side of the prospect list, plus older players like Williams.

[Tony-OH]

I gotta imagine when he's ready they'll promote him to AAA where he will play Cf and RF with Mullins moving to left when he's in center.

[orioles22]

I know what you mean and agree, but technically he's on a rehab assignment from Norfolk? Not that they couldn't decide he should be in Bowie, but it seems he's been there long enough.

Especially when/if Diaz gets back, the Bowie outfield is more crowded than Norfolk. It's hard to explain how they have played so bad so far as a team.

[Matt Bennett]

Let Hays mash at Frederick. Earn a promotion to Bowie. Mash at Bowie. Earn a promotion to Norfolk. Mash at Norfolk. Until then I don’t want to see him in Baltimore. That should take all of 2019. He has a lot to prove. 

 

Stewart will be up in the show soon and I expect to see Mullins again.