Austin Hays 2023

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

At no point during a bunt attempt should any finger be wrapped around the bat. First day 101 stuff.  It’s insane a MLB Athlete (who knows this) would F up and miss time, mess with winning mojo, and hurt their bottom line by missing time.  Continue to shake my head at the MLB bunt IL fools. 

Wrapped may be a poor description by me.   Where his top hand was holding the bat.  I don’t think the way he held the bat was wrong.  But he didn’t get the barrel on the ball.  It was poor technique in terms of getting the right part of the bat on the ball.  

[emmett16]

9 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Wrapped may be a poor description by me.   Where his top hand was holding the bat.  I don’t think the way he held the bat was wrong.  But he didn’t get the barrel on the ball.  It was poor technique in terms of getting the right part of the bat on the ball.  

Pros screw up the bunt so often because it wasn’t a skill that got them to the show = no practice.  Continues to blow my mind the senseless injuries that occur on bunts due to poor prep & execution.

 

Bunt = “thumbs up” technique to both deaden bat & make Hand as soft as possible for potential impact.  Hand in front/wrapped on bat = month off with broken finger.

[wildcard]

Hays is probably out for a few days.  Who replaces him in left?   Maybe McKenna  while they are in Baltimore for that big left field.   But when they go on the road it could be different.   Does Frazier move to the outfield?  Do they give the at bats to Vavra?  Do they call up Cowser?  They can move Johnson to the 60 day IL to make room of the 40 man.  How long will it take for Hays to heal?

Edited April 26, 2023 by wildcard

[maybenxtyr]

Didn't he have a hand or wrist injury last season that kinda cooled him down?

[emmett16]

Just watches replay. Flipping idiot.  All 4 fingers wrapped around bat just waiting to get broke. 

[Brooks The Great]

If Hays has to miss time, Westburg needs to be the callup. If not, the extra at bats that McKenna, Vavra, McCann, and Frazier would be getting will really hurt the offense as a result. Stowers doesn't make sense since the team is already vulnerable to LHP - I know Stowers has reverse splits, but the organization clearly doesn't trust Stowers against LHP (and doesn't seem to trust him with regular playing time in general).

Not only is Westburg likely a better hitter than any of that McKenna/Vavra/McCann/Frazier group, but he would be a much needed power bat against lefties. 

If Elias and Hyde's solution to losing Hays for any length of time is to give McKenna more playing time - man, all I can say is that would SUCK.

[RZNJ]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

Wrapped may be a poor description by me.   Where his top hand was holding the bat.  I don’t think the way he held the bat was wrong.  But he didn’t get the barrel on the ball.  It was poor technique in terms of getting the right part of the bat on the ball.  

Again, it’s been a long time but they used to teach you to use your top hand with just your thumb and index finger behind the bat.  Either way,  it’s hard to see how Hays didn’t realize the position of where his hand was on the bat relative to the pitch and adjust.  After seeing that maybe he should give up bunting.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Again, it’s been a long time but they used to teach you to use your top hand with just your thumb and index finger behind the bat.  Either way,  it’s hard to see how Hays didn’t realize the position of where his hand was on the bat relative to the pitch and adjust.  After seeing that maybe he should give up bunting.

Amen to that. 

[Just Regular]

4 hours ago, emmett16 said:

Just watches replay. Flipping idiot.  All 4 fingers wrapped around bat just waiting to get broke. 

Without having seen the play, I didn't need to see more than the words bunt attempt in the game thread an hour later to automatically classify it as another Hays knucklehead instance.

1000% I believe he only chose the bunt as a strategic option because of the game state.    I doubt he has invested appropriately in life mastery of the skill, or even that the Org cares much that he hasn't because of his overall hitting skill.

[btdart20]

4 hours ago, emmett16 said:

Just watches replay. Flipping idiot.  All 4 fingers wrapped around bat just waiting to get broke. 

That's how the Japanese team did it in the WBC.  And they dropped some pretty good bunts too.  Better bat control vs. healthy fingers.

[ChosenOne21]

4 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Again, it’s been a long time but they used to teach you to use your top hand with just your thumb and index finger behind the bat.  Either way,  it’s hard to see how Hays didn’t realize the position of where his hand was on the bat relative to the pitch and adjust.  After seeing that maybe he should give up bunting.

Little League coach told me one hand gripping the bat, half fist with the other behind the bat to guide it

[Otter]

I have to definitely agree with some of the other posters on this one; when I saw the replay I couldn't believe the way he was holding the batter with his upper hand.  That is basic Little League stuff; you position your upper hand so even if the pitch tails in on you or you just have really bad hand-eye coordination at least you won't break a finger.  Now it is true that you have better bat control with both hands wrapped around the bat, but is one successful bunt worth the risk of a broken finger?  I hope Hyde tells him never to bunt again...and especially with his injury history...

[Tony-OH]

6 hours ago, emmett16 said:

Pros screw up the bunt so often because it wasn’t a skill that got them to the show = no practice.  Continues to blow my mind the senseless injuries that occur on bunts due to poor prep & execution.

 

Bunt = “thumbs up” technique to both deaden bat & make Hand as soft as possible for potential impact.  Hand in front/wrapped on bat = month off with broken finger.

Agreed. It was awful execution and anyone who has played the game would tell you that wrapping your fingers around the bat is not the right way to bunt. 

Hays is kind or who he is at this point. He's a gamer who is going to give you 100%, but he's injury/dinged up prone that typically affects his on field production for stretches at a time, sometimes of his own doing. 

My biggest concern this year is how far his fielding has fallen over last season and the start of this one. He's -0.6 dWAR and -3 OOA through just 23 games in the outfield. All three aspects of jump are below average with his -1.2 ft/sec reaction time being the worse of his career. He's not getting slower foot speed wise, he's just not reaction very well and his burst speed has fallen 1.1 ft/sec since 2020.

It's really hard to start a below average defensive outfielder in left field in Camden Yards. He's off to a nice start offensively (.883 OPS, .378 WOBA) but he would be better served in RF if his jumps and ft covered/sec are going to be below average. We know his arm plays there.

Terrin Vavra leads the team in DH appearances (ridiculous BTW) so it makes some sense to send to move Hays to RF, Santander to DH and bring up Cowser to play LF. Vavra can be optioned.

 

[emmett16]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Agreed. It was awful execution and anyone who has played the game would tell you that wrapping your fingers around the bat is not the right way to bunt. 

Hays is kind or who he is at this point. He's a gamer who is going to give you 100%, but he's injury/dinged up prone that typically affects his on field production for stretches at a time, sometimes of his own doing. 

My biggest concern this year is how far his fielding has fallen over last season and the start of this one. He's -0.6 dWAR and -3 OOA through just 23 games in the outfield. All three aspects of jump are below average with his -1.2 ft/sec reaction time being the worse of his career. He's not getting slower foot speed wise, he's just not reaction very well and his burst speed has fallen 1.1 ft/sec since 2020.

It's really hard to start a below average defensive outfielder in left field in Camden Yards. He's off to a nice start offensively (.883 OPS, .378 WOBA) but he would be better served in RF if his jumps and ft covered/sec are going to be below average. We know his arm plays there.

Terrin Vavra leads the team in DH appearances (ridiculous BTW) so it makes some sense to send to move Hays to RF, Santander to DH and bring up Cowser to play LF. Vavra can be optioned.

 

That would be fantastic.  Hays RF, Mullins CF, Cowser LF would be an upgraded defensive set up and way more offense pushing Santander to to DH & Vavra to Norfolk. Cowser is starting to look like a man amongst boys at AAA and think he can have a very positive impact in short time.  

 

[Aristotelian]

7 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

That would be fantastic.  Hays RF, Mullins CF, Cowser LF would be an upgraded defensive set up and way more offense pushing Santander to to DH & Vavra to Norfolk. Cowser is starting to look like a man amongst boys at AAA and think he can have a very positive impact in short time.  

 

I do like that outfield. Pushes Santander to the bench when Adley is DH, but right now Santander isn't providing much. Question is does he merit a long leash. He was second on the team last year in OPS and led the team in HR. We thought Santander DH would be the approach this year with Stowers starting in RF. Maybe they are just waiting to pull the trigger on Cowser.