Austin Hays 2023

[banks703]

Love seeing what he can do when he’s healthy. That pitch to the inside elbow earlier looked gnarly. I bet he thought exactly what I thought when it ran in on him “f#%*! Not this again”. 
 

 

[casadeozo]

9 minutes ago, amdcpus said:

Austin Hays is now leading the AL in batting average, at .320, putting him ahead of Bo Bichette who is batting .318.

Is he a consistent .300 hitter?

 

looking at his numbers from both host time in the majors and minors it seems he hasn’t been a high average hitter.

[Pickles]

13 minutes ago, amdcpus said:

Austin Hays is now leading the AL in batting average, at .320, putting him ahead of Bo Bichette who is batting .318.

Fourth outfielder at best.

[Pickles]

3 minutes ago, casadeozo said:

Is he a consistent .300 hitter?

 

looking at his numbers from both host time in the majors and minors it seems he hasn’t been a high average hitter.

As a big fan of Hays, I will say no he isn't a "consistent" 300 hitter imo.

[Frobby]

5 minutes ago, Pickles said:

As a big fan of Hays, I will say no he isn't a "consistent" 300 hitter imo.

Not to this point in his career.   But he’s been pretty consistent this year.  Hopefully he can keep it up.  

[dystopia]

9 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Fourth outfielder at best.

??????

[Royle]

Hays has been dialed in all season.  Really has consistently maintained excellent swing mechanics.

April .312

May .310

June .344

 

[Aristotelian]

Hays continues to be locked in. He doesn't always get the greatest AB's but he almost always gets a good pitch to hit and makes hard contact. It seems He is benefitting as much as anyone from the "swing decisions" philosophy. He hasn't gone hitless two games in a row so far in June. 

[Pickles]

18 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Not to this point in his career.   But he’s been pretty consistent this year.  Hopefully he can keep it up.  

It's hard to knock his performance so far this year in any way.  And he damn well might hot .300 this year though I'd still take the under.

But I consider a "consistent " .300 hitter to be a guy who hits .300 every year. I don't believe he has that skillet.

It's an incredibly rare skill set. Even a guy I consider to be one, Paul Molitor, with a .306 career average, had many, many years under .300. I had to look.

[Baltimorecuse]

24 minutes ago, dystopia said:

??????

I think he was trolling.  The rockfish are biting.

[banks703]

On the MLB Network they did a bit with Cliff Floyd asking him if he would be alright with being a .180ish hitter who hits 40-50 bombs with 120 RBI. Initially he said he wouldn’t be but then retracted when they threw out the point that in the hypothetical the organization approached him to be THAT type of hitter.
 

I firmly believe that an Org’s hitting philosophy can largely dictate the performance of players. Coming up through the minors (especially when Hays graduated to elite prospect status) I think he was asked (and expected to be) a MOO bat who would hit 30+ homers. I think we are seeing a healthy Austin Hays adjust not only to who he is as a player but also what the team needs from him. They don’t need Austin Hays to hit 30-40 homeruns. They need Austin Hays to hit. Period. 
 

I think he’s capable .300 seasons if he is THIS version of Austin Hays. To me he looks better not being in the middle of the order. Let him be this version while playing outstanding outfield defense, which I think gets better with a move to RF where his arm is more important. 
 

Willhe hit .300? None of us can answer that. But I think he CAN. 

[Can_of_corn]

9 minutes ago, banks703 said:

On the MLB Network they did a bit with Cliff Floyd asking him if he would be alright with being a .180ish hitter who hits 40-50 bombs with 120 RBI. Initially he said he wouldn’t be but then retracted when they threw out the point that in the hypothetical the organization approached him to be THAT type of hitter.
 

I firmly believe that an Org’s hitting philosophy can largely dictate the performance of players. Coming up through the minors (especially when Hays graduated to elite prospect status) I think he was asked (and expected to be) a MOO bat who would hit 30+ homers. I think we are seeing a healthy Austin Hays adjust not only to who he is as a player but also what the team needs from him. They don’t need Austin Hays to hit 30-40 homeruns. They need Austin Hays to hit. Period. 
 

I think he’s capable .300 seasons if he is THIS version of Austin Hays. To me he looks better not being in the middle of the order. Let him be this version while playing outstanding outfield defense, which I think gets better with a move to RF where his arm is more important. 
 

Willhe hit .300? None of us can answer that. But I think he CAN. 

Can you explain why, in this scenario, his OBP is only 40 points higher than his batting average?  That's actually lower than his career numbers.

[Spy Fox]

1 hour ago, Pickles said:

It's hard to knock his performance so far this year in any way.  And he damn well might hot .300 this year though I'd still take the under.

But I consider a "consistent " .300 hitter to be a guy who hits .300 every year. I don't believe he has that skillet.

It's an incredibly rare skill set. Even a guy I consider to be one, Paul Molitor, with a .306 career average, had many, many years under .300. I had to look.

And even rarer these days. 

Last year 11 qualifying hitters managed .300+. Looking at five year increments, in 2017-2012-2007-2002, the number of qualifying hitters at .300 was 25-25-40-35. 

The rise of the strikeout has meant the demise of the .300 hitter. Fifteen years ago the 40th best average hitter was Nick Markakis and a couple other guys at .300 even. Last year the 40th best average hitter was Pete Alonso and a couple other guys at .271. 

[OriolesMagic83]

2 hours ago, Pickles said:

Fourth outfielder at best.

4tH?  More like a 5th outfielder.

[Pickles]

20 minutes ago, Spy Fox said:

And even rarer these days. 

Last year 11 qualifying hitters managed .300+. Looking at five year increments, in 2017-2012-2007-2002, the number of qualifying hitters at .300 was 25-25-40-35. 

The rise of the strikeout has meant the demise of the .300 hitter. Fifteen years ago the 40th best average hitter was Nick Markakis and a couple other guys at .300 even. Last year the 40th best average hitter was Pete Alonso and a couple other guys at .271. 

The shift didn't help either.