Austin Hays
With the Phillies looking for a legitimate outfield upgrade in preparation for their 2024 postseason run, they took a huge gamble by acquiring outfielder Austin Hays from the Baltimore Orioles at the trade deadline. On paper, it seemed like a smart low-risk, high-reward move as Hays was coming off an All-Star season in 2023 in which he hit a solid .275 with a .769 OPS, 76 runs scored, 36 doubles, 16 home runs and 67 RBI in 144 games with the Orioles.
With the influx of young talent, including first-round pick Colton Cowser, along with some ill-timed injury issues, Hays saw his playing time decrease drastically with Baltimore in 2024. Over 63 total games played, he managed to put up just a .255 average and .711 OPS with 18 runs scored, 13 doubles, three home runs and 14 RBI. Despite that, the Phillies took a chance with Hays as they strongly believed that if given the opportunity to play every day once again, he should eventually rediscover his offensive power stroke in due time.
Unfortunately, that expectation never came to fruition as his injury woes ended up following him to Philadelphia. Hays ended up seeing only 22 games of action with the Phillies as he was hindered by a hamstring issue and a kidney infection during the bulk of his tenure. Nevertheless, he showed glimpses of being a power run producer by batting a respectable .256 with a .672 OPS, along with eight runs scored, five doubles, two home runs and six RBI. However, a gaudy 19:0 strikeout-to-walk ratio really stood out along with his ailments, limiting his overall effectiveness.
With the Phillies moving on and adding Max Kepler this offseason via free agency, the potential reunion with Hays is out of the question. But still only 29, there should still be teams that are willing to give Hays a chance to show what he is capable of providing once again. Whether that will be in the capacity of a starter or a bench player is up in the air, but given his offensive potential shown during his 2021-2023 seasons, it should be at least enough to give himself another serious look.