Austin Hays 2022

[SteveA]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm sure the plan had been in the works.

I hope he hasn't been revolving his drafts around it.

No, but there is nothing wrong with drafting to fit your park.   Our park has always favored LH hitters over RH, that difference has just been significantly increased.

You don't want to end up like the Yankees last year, heavily righthanded in a ballpark that extremely favors LH hitters, and having to trade for every LH hitter with a pulse to try to contend (Rizzo, Odor, Gallo).

 

[interloper]

Potential future lineup:

CF Mullins - L
1B Mountcastle - R
DH Santander - S
C Adley - S
RF Stowers - L
2B Urias - R
LF Cowser - L
SS - Mateo/Westburg/Ortiz - R (or Henderson - L)
3B - Westburg/Ortiz/Mayo  - R (or Henderson - L)

That's pretty good balance. 

[Can_of_corn]

11 minutes ago, SteveA said:

No, but there is nothing wrong with drafting to fit your park.   Our park has always favored LH hitters over RH, that difference has just been significantly increased.

You don't want to end up like the Yankees last year, heavily righthanded in a ballpark that extremely favors LH hitters, and having to trade for every LH hitter with a pulse to try to contend (Rizzo, Odor, Gallo).

 

I'll stick with the BPA.

[seak05]

Hays is pretty much the ideal 4th OF. Has enough speed for CF, enough arm for either corner, and enough bat that he's not an auto out when he's in the line-up. Plus his splits make for an easy platoon. It's on him to demonstrate that he's more then that this year. 

[Jammer7]

5 hours ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

He also had the line drive right at the pitcher.  Just like the guy hitting .600 right now, Hays isn't going to hit under .100 all season.  I'm a big Hays fan, but Mullins seems to be a better OBP guy.  I wonder if Hays is the guy who is going to be traded at the deadline, not Mullins.

I believe ha also smashed a liner right at Adames, and I think another shot right at an OF. So, he’s making good hard contact frequently. Watch his swings and misses, in particular, and see him dive in and lose his balance. He falls across the plate frequently. So he will be frequently tied up inside when the pitcher knows how to get him looking outside. I like the guy, absolutely. I’d like to see him stay for a while. He appears to be making progress in his swing decisions. We’ll see. 

[Ohfan67]

.859 OPS in the past seven games. 

[ChuckS]

On 4/14/2022 at 6:30 PM, seak05 said:

Hays is pretty much the ideal 4th OF. Has enough speed for CF, enough arm for either corner, and enough bat that he's not an auto out when he's in the line-up. Plus his splits make for an easy platoon. It's on him to demonstrate that he's more then that this year. 

That's his absolute downside IMO.  That would make him the short half of a platoon.  Like to think he has a little more potential than that.  After this season we will have a better idea of what we have in him.  He's at that age and experience level where he should really be putting it all together.  If he has another .750ish (or worse) type season where he struggles against righties, I would agree with you.  

[Frobby]

Three run jack from Hays tonight, his second homer in as many games.   His OPS rose to a respectable .755.    Over his last 10 games, he’s hitting .333/.395/.564.   Hopefully he will stay hot.  

[Just Regular]

Practicing my 2022 humidor adjustments, that .755 OPS is good for a 124 OPS+ on B-Ref this morning.

A last year OPS+ near that was JD Martinez's 126....raw line was 286/349/518.

[jamalshw]

54 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Practicing my 2022 humidor adjustments, that .755 OPS is good for a 124 OPS+ on B-Ref this morning.

A last year OPS+ near that was JD Martinez's 126....raw line was 286/349/518.

To be fair, it's not all the humidor...last year, the league average OPS was .728, down from .740 in 2020 and .758 in 2019. So the downward trend has been going on before the humidor. This year, league average is .675. That will go up. In April last year, the average OPS was .699. So I think we see the OPS trend downwards again from what we saw in 2021, but hopefully the warmer months bring around better offense. 

[Frobby]

16 minutes ago, jamalshw said:

To be fair, it's not all the humidor...last year, the league average OPS was .728, down from .740 in 2020 and .758 in 2019. So the downward trend has been going on before the humidor. This year, league average is .675. That will go up. In April last year, the average OPS was .699. So I think we see the OPS trend downwards again from what we saw in 2021, but hopefully the warmer months bring around better offense. 

Whatever the reasons are for the league’s OPS drop, at the moment, Hays’ .755 OPS is a pretty good number relative to the league.   I’m hoping he can improve on last year’s 107 OPS+.   After a cold first week, he’s now on target and I hope he keeps it up.  

[Frobby]

By the way, it’s very early to be looking at platoon splits, but so far Hays is at .806 OPS vs. RHP, .693 vs. LHP.    Last year his splits vs. RHP weren’t good and some people were suggesting that made him a platoon candidate.   I thought that argument was putting too much emphasis on one year of splits, given his overall track record, in which he has a pretty typical platoon differential for a RHB.   As of now, he’s a career .740 vs. RHP, .797 vs. LHP.   We’ll see how the rest of the season goes.   

[NCRaven]

5 hours ago, Just Regular said:

Practicing my 2022 humidor adjustments...

I like to keep my humidor close to 70% humidity.  Otherwise, my cigars start to dry out and the wrapper begins to flake.  I hate that.

[OriolesMagic83]

The O's need to figure out how to switch betwwen humodor balls for the opponents and non humidor balls for the O's.

[Can_of_corn]

9 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

The O's need to figure out how to switch betwwen humodor balls for the opponents and non humidor balls for the O's.

https://yourelegantbar.com/products/reagan-electronic-cigar-humidor-cabinet

Done.