8:52pm: Hays has a mild strain, according to manager Brandon Hyde, who’s optimistic he won’t miss much time (via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com).
4:48pm: The Orioles have placed outfielder Austin Hays on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain, per a team announcement. In other moves, the Orioles activated right-hander Shawn Armstrong from the IL, recalled outfielder Ryan McKenna and optioned righty Cole Sulser.
The 25-year-old Hays is a promising piece for the rebuilding Orioles, but injuries – including to his ribs, ankle, wrist – have dogged him during his professional career. He only appeared in 33 of 60 games last year, owing in part to a rib fracture, but bounced back from an awful start to finish with a roughly league-average .279/.328/.393 line with four home runs in 134 plate appearances. He began this season with two hits in 10 PA during the Orioles’ three-game sweep of the Red Sox.
McKenna, 24, will give the O’s more outfield depth as they await Hays’ return. He hasn’t yet played above Double-A ball, where he hit .232/.321/.365 with nine HRs and 25 steals in 567 PA in 2019, though FanGraphs does rank McKenna as the organization’s seventh-best prospect. Eric Longenhagen wrote last month that “McKenna can fly and he has all-fields, doubles power, peppering the right-center gap with inside-out swings,” adding he could mix average offense with quality defense in the bigs. The 24-year-old will join Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander, Ryan Mountcastle and Pat Valaika as outfield options on Baltimore’s roster.
McKenna move expected. Yusniel Diaz next? Will Santander get traded later this year?
Hays still trying to prove he can stay healthy.
There’s a lot of OF’ers in Baltimore for 3 slots. Kjerstad, McKenna, Hays, Mullins, Santander, Mancini, Mount and Diaz. Obviously Mancini/Mount can and will play 1B/DH but nonetheless it’s a logjam.
Someone will have to go. Not sure Diaz is going to be better than Santander, though. More control over Diaz and that fits our competitive window but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with Santander. He’s an Eddie Rosario type who plays good D in right.
Kjerstad is a ways off. I’m hearing Diaz is progressing and we may see him this year. Diaz also likely better with the glove than Santander, though I’ll have to wait and see.
good for McKenna, been waiting for his call up
Excited to see him (plus the others who will arrive soon enough).
Congrats Ryan! Shame Hays got hurt.
If Hayes can stay healthy he will be a good player. I hope this is just a minor setback.
The Orioles need to sign some OF depth. Stewart from Detroit is out there and Skye Bolt from Oakland is out there.
Bolt was just claimed by SF
The Orioles have almost too much depth there, it enough infield depth.
Yep. Infield depth is really bad right now. They addressed it in the draft this year but it’s definitely the organizational weak spot. OF is more than sufficient. DJ stewart should be back in the mix soon as well.
The didn’t take long. health is a skill Hays just doesn’t have. The phone is ringing it’s Nolan Reimold.
I’m hoping that’s not a fair or accurate comparison.
sadly it has been both in the bigs and in the minors
Listbaltim? Connor is taking a page out of the book of TC Zencka.
Can we all just take a moment to laugh at manfred for moving the ASG out of cobb and giving all that money to denver and colorado (look up ethnicity %) who also has voter id laws. Lmao. What a failure.
Colorado conducts their elections almost entirely (99%) by mail and their ID requirement is only for IN PERSON voting. Georgia’s ID requirement applies to mail in voting, as well as in person. So you’re comparing apples to oranges. Lmao What a failure.
It’s my hope that the amount of money lost by Georgia for MLB’s obvious abuse of their anti-trust law, costs them that exemption. It’s comical and sad at the same time to me, that MLB is formulating an opinion about a state law and reacting to it, despite the fact it has no business doing so.
ListBaltim???
I can’t believe they sent down Sulser, instead of releasing LeBlanc. I’m sure Wade is a nice guy, but there is absolutely nothing left in his tank. It’s like watching a high school pitcher soft toss.