Austin Hays trade grade: Did the Phillies find their man to fix the outfield?

On Friday, the Philadelphia Phillies made their first move of the trade deadline in acquiring outfielder Austin Hays from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for outfielder Cristian Pache and reliever Seranthony Domínguez.

Very rarely do you see two division leaders make a deal together at the deadline, especially when both will be strong contenders for the World Series. But when both of them end up filling a significant need on their rosters, it could present a win-win situation for both clubs.

Austin Hays trade grade: Did the Phillies find their man to fix the outfield?

In Hays, the Phillies are getting a former 2016 third-round standout out of Jacksonville University. He moved through the Orioles minor league system in quick order as he made his MLB debut just three years later.

However, Hays didn’t become a regular in the Orioles lineup until 2021, and from there he didn't look back. With the ability to average 20 home runs and 70 RBI per year, he became a staple in the middle part of the batting order for Baltimore for a good part of three seasons. This included his All-Star season last year in which he batted a solid .275 with a .769 OPS, 76 runs scored, 36 doubles, 16 home runs and 67 RBI in 144 games.

More importantly, there isn’t a huge drop-off in his defensive game in comparison to his offensive potential. Hays might not be providing Gold Glove-calibre defense, but he can hold his own with a career DRS of 20 and a dazzling fielding percentage of .994. He was squeezed out of a regular role this season with the Orioles with the emergence of Colton Cowser, despite the rookie’s up-and-down season.

It looks like Hays will get his opportunity with a fresh start with the Phillies. According to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki, manager Rob Thomson indicated that the plan is to use Hays as the everyday left fielder while Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas will share time in center. The Phillies believe Hays can get back to his productive ways with more playing time.

In Pache and Domínguez, the Phillies gave up a seldom-utilized reserve outfielder and a struggling veteran reliever in return.

Pache was never able to establish his niche with the Phillies. Despite his consistent solid defense, he left a lot to be desired in his production at the plate. Over 98 games with Philadelphia, he batted a dismal .218 with a .637 OPS, 21 runs scored, two home runs and 20 RBI in 213 plate appearances.

As for Domínguez, following his dominant season back in 2022 with the Phillies, his game has slowly regressed over the past couple of seasons. He struggled quite a bit with the Phillies in 2024, putting up a career-worst 4.75 ERA and 86 ERA+ in 38 appearances, and yielded the highest home run rate of his career at 1.5 homers per nine innings. As a result, he became a less reliable option for Philadelphia to deploy out of the bullpen.

Austin Hays trade grade: The Verdict 

Given that the Phillies were looking for outfield help as one of their main goals of the trade deadline, they certainly got a solid player in Hays. He clearly represents an offensive upgrade from what the Phillies had in the outfield from anyone not named Nick Castellanos. Hays will push one of Marsh or Rojas into a daily bench role, which in hand is also a significant upgrade of what Pache brought to the team.

Although the Phillies do lose a key arm in Domínguez, his diminished effectiveness in high-leverage situations limited his upside and ultimately made him expendable. But because Hays isn’t a huge game-changer like what Luis Robert Jr. would have brought to the club, we give the trade a solid B+ grade. Hopefully, Hays will prove that he’s way more than that.

Austin Hays trade grade: B+