Austin Hays is having a productive-when-healthy season with the Cincinnati Reds. The 30-year-old outfielder has missed time with a calf pressure, a hamstring pressure, and a foot contusion, however he’s additionally slashed .282/.338/.510 with 10 house runs in 228 plate appearances. Furthermore, his 128 wRC+ and .360 wOBA are each second on the group (behind Elly De La Cruz) amongst these with no less than 140 PAs.
His résumé is that of a stable hitter. From 2021-2023— his first full seasons within the majors — Hays had 97 doubles and 54 house runs, in addition to a wRC+ ranging between 106 and 111. These three seasons had been spent with the Baltimore Orioles, who subsequently swapped him to the Philadelphia Phillies in alternate for Seranthony Domínguez and Cristian Pache a number of days earlier than final July’s commerce deadline. Hays’s 2024 marketing campaign was the worst of his profession. Hampered by accidents and sickness — a kidney an infection proved most problematic — he had a 97 wRC+ whereas taking part in in simply 85 video games. The Reds then inked him to a free agent contract over the winter,
Which brings us to the crux of this column’s lead merchandise: the explanations behind the success he’s presently having.
“Consistency might be the largest factor,” Hays instructed me. “There’s not all the time an adjustment to be made. Generally it’s simply the sport [and] you’re being pitched robust. I don’t need to be altering an excessive amount of of what I do effectively. Previously, I might generally pay an excessive amount of consideration to what the pitcher was doing and attempt to regulate to that. Staying sturdy to my strengths — locking in on these strengths — goes to assist me over the course of 162 [games].”
Hays went on to say that he desires the pitcher to return to him, and if he executes his pitches, so be it. There isn’t a purpose to attempt to right something, as a result of baseball is baseball and pitchers are going to get you out. When that occurs, he’ll merely tip his cap.
An evening earlier, it was the hitter who had the higher hand. After fanning his first time up, Hays hammered a 397-foot triple and a 414-foot house run in his subsequent two alternatives. I requested the righty slugger about these outcomes.
“I used to be searching for a ball to start out in a sure part of the plate,” defined Hays, who did the harm in opposition to Garrett Crochet at Fenway Park. “He made a few errors on heaters. If they’d have been high rail, proper at and even barely above the zone — or perhaps they had been dotted on the within nook — it will have been, ‘OK, they’re strikes and I have to swing at them.’ However these are pitcher’s pitches. I’m attempting to place the barrel on the ball, and in the event that they’re not in an space the place you do harm, you may’t anticipate to do harm. You cowl what you may cowl, however while you see guys hit house runs, or hit the ball very exhausting on a line, the pitch is usually in a part of the plate.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Ozzie Guillen went 10 for 19 in opposition to Danny Jackson.
Sean Berry went 10 for 18 in opposition to Donovan Osborne.
Tim Hulett went 10 for 20 in opposition to Bud Black.
Aramis Ramirez went 12 for 21 in opposition to CC Sabathia.
Cal Ripken Jr. went 12 for 23 in opposition to Lary Sorensen.
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The small-market Milwaukee Brewers have been persistently good for a number of years working, Presently contesting the Chicago Cubs for first place within the NL Central, “The Crew” is on observe to play postseason baseball for the seventh time in eight seasons. Simply why they’ve been good is a query my colleague Michael Baumann delved into simply this previous week, and he hasn’t been the one one in quest of a purpose. I’ve just lately requested a pair of former Brewers — one a participant, the opposite a coach — for his or her views.
“That’s a tough query to reply,” mentioned Texas Rangers left-hander Hoby Milner, who pitched in Milwaukee from 2021-2024. “I really feel that for years, the beginning pitching type of carried them. The again of the bullpen was excellent, too. I keep in mind seeing a stat that if we scored 4 runs in a sport, our profitable share was one thing like 95 %. Regardless of the quantity, it was actually excessive. One other factor is that they concentrate on the little issues very well. They only do job of getting essentially the most out of what they’ve bought.”
What the Brewers get out of pitchers who’re something however family names has stood out. Hidden gems signed off the scrap heap have develop into a factor for one in every of baseball’s smartest organizations.
“No matter their method is for locating pitchers… I imply, they discover guys,” Milner mentioned when requested in regards to the unearthed diamonds.”They perhaps have some type of motion profile, or a selected pitch that performs very well, and [the Brewers pitching department] figures out maximize it. They’re like, ‘OK, someone is utilizing this man fallacious; we’ll convey him in and tweak one thing, we’ll use him in the correct approach.’ They’ve had fairly a number of examples of that occuring.”
Walker McKinven shared comparable ideas on the membership that employed him from 2016-2024. Now the bench coach for the Chicago White Sox, McKinven labored in each the entrance workplace and on the main league workers, giving him a behind-the-scenes understanding of the internal workings (which isn’t to say he was about to share any proprietary info).
“The Brewers have a observe document of figuring out expertise on the best way up,” mentioned McKinven, who was concerned in each acquisitions and growth at completely different factors in his tenure. “That’s the best way they must do it. They must catch guys with the arrow pointing up, not essentially pay what it prices to get guys who’re already good. They usually’re not simply good at evaluating expertise. They belief their coaches to develop these gamers into what they assume they are often.”
As you would possibly anticipate, analytics contribute closely to that success.
“Utilizing info to our benefit was an enormous piece of the pie in my roles, and generally with that group,” mentioned the 36-year-old Georgia Faculty & State Faculty graduate (and former indie-ball pitcher). “I think about the phrase analytics to be evidenced-based decision-making, and we used evidenced-based decision-making to amass gamers, enhance gamers, and game-plan for opponents.”
After which there may be what may be the group’s most under-appreciated asset. McKinven is aware of in addition to anybody that you may’t win at a excessive degree by merely out-smarting the opposition. You additionally want good baseball gamers.
“They’ve made the playoffs in six of the final seven years, and that takes plenty of expertise,” he mentioned. “You don’t make the playoffs with out expertise.”
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A quiz:
Three gamers in Dodgers franchise historical past have recorded 2,000 or extra hits. Zack Wheat and Pee Wee Reese are two of them. Who’s the third? (A touch: he recorded all of his hits after the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.)
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NEWS NOTES
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers play-by-play broadcaster Chris Mehring referred to as his 3,000th consecutive sport yesterday. The Midwest League membership is the Milwaukee Brewers’ Excessive-A affiliate.
Jeff Bittiger, who pitched in 33 video games throughout the 1986-1989 seasons, died on July 19 at age 63. All however six of the right-hander’s appearances had been with the White Sox — he additionally toed the rubber 3 times every with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Minnesota Twins — with the majority of his motion coming in 1988 with Chicago’s South Aspect group. Bittiger’s lone big-league hit was a house run off of Pittsburgh’s Bob Kipper.
Invoice Denehy, a right-handed pitcher who went 1-10 with a 4.56 ERA whereas taking part in for 3 groups from 1967-1971, has died at age 79 (per SABR’s Fb web page). The Middletown, Connecticut native made 31 of his 49 appearances with the Detroit Tigers, these in his last season.
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The reply to the quiz is Willie Davis, who had 2,091 hits whereas taking part in with the Dodgers from 1960-1973. For those who guessed Steve Garvey, he had 1,968 hits as a Dodger.
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The 2025 Dodgers are a star-studded membership, however there are less-famous gamers making significant contributions as effectively. Who amongst them most stands out? Within the eyes of one in every of their radio broadcasters, a 24-year-old outfielder with a 126 wRC+ and three.2 WAR most closely fits that description.
“The celebrities you’ll anticipate to do one thing,” Tim Neverett instructed me. “You see Shohei do superman stuff nearly each night time. Freddie Freeman continues to stroll off video games. Mookie is Mookie. However a man who has actually helped the group this yr is Andy Pages, the centerfielder. He’s bordering on 20 house runs. He’s been actually good defensively, and also can play proper discipline and left discipline when they want him to. He’s robbed 4 or 5 house runs this yr.
“He’s a man who has actually been underneath the radar for this group,” added Neverett. “He’s perhaps not somebody you have a look at and say, ‘Effectively, right here’s one other star’… though we thought he would possibly even get sufficient All-Star votes. He fell quick, however that’s OK. I feel he’s going to be in there in coming years. Andy Pages has been an X issue.”
Pages has a .286/.328/.488 slash line and 19 house runs to go together with his aforementioned 126 wRC+. Within the discipline, he has eight DRS and 7 OOA.
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A random obscure former participant snapshot:
Shannon Withem’s big-league profession was transient. A local of Ann Arbor, Michigan who’d been drafted out of Willow Run Excessive Faculty in close by Ypsilanti by the Detroit Tigers in 1990, he made his lone look as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998. It was a profitable one. Pitching in reduction in opposition to the Tampa Bay Satan Rays, Withem went three innings and surrendered only a lone run. Previous to getting his September cup of espresso, he’d gone 17-5 with a 3.27 ERA for Triple-A Syracuse.
Launched by the Blue Jays that winter, the right-hander subsequently spent the 1999 season with NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, solely to incur an elbow damage and see his profession come to an finish. Withem reportedly threw seven no-hitters in highschool, one during which he fanned 21 batters over the seven-inning effort.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Pacific League beat the Central League in every of this week’s All-Star video games, profitable by scores of 5-1 and 10-7. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks ace Livan Moinelo had the most-notable efficiency in Sport One. Not solely did the 29-year-old southpaw toss two scoreless innings, he retired the ultimate batter he confronted pitching right-handed. Moinleo has a 1.27 ERA over 113-and-a-third innings on the season.
Reo Shibata made his NPB debut with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters yesterday and retired all 9 batters he confronted, three by means of the Ok. A two-way participant who was drafted within the first spherical final yr, the 19-year-old right-handed pitcher/left-handed batter had been taking part in for the Pacific League’s high farm membership.
Jake Cave is slashing .314/.356/.478 with 10 house runs and a 133 wRC+ over 379 plate appearances for the KBO’s Doosan Bears. The 32-year-old outfielder signed with the KBO membership over the winter after taking part in for 3 groups over seven big-league seasons.
Robinson Canó is slashing .365/.418/.542 and has gone deep 11 occasions in 373 plate appearances for the Mexican League’s Diablos Rojos del Mexico. The 42-year-old former MLB All-Star has 3,605 hits, together with 764 doubles and 409 house runs, over 25 skilled seasons.
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Travis d’Arnaud was featured right here in Sunday Notes final month speaking about Bartolo Colon and different pitchers he caught with the New York Mets from 2013-2018. Left on the cutting-room ground from my dialog with the veteran backstop had been his ideas on another notable hurlers.
“After I was with the Rays [in 2019], their bullpen arms had been phenomenal,” recalled d’Arnaud, who’s in his first season with the Los Angeles Angels following 5 with the Atlanta Braves. “Their starters, too. There was Chuck Nasty [Charlie Morton], whose curveball was one thing I’d by no means seen something like earlier than. Blake Snell was dominant. Tyler Glasnow was dominant. Then I went to the Braves the place I caught Max Fried. I’ve by no means seen a man’s ball by no means go straight. It simply moved each path always, some greater than others. On high of that, he might command it.
“After which, clearly, Spencer Strider,” the personable 36-year-old added. “I’ve by no means seen a unicorn heater like that. A low slot, with that a lot rise, and going over 100 [mph] on each heater. That’s fairly wild.”
Requested about pitchers who’ve stood out to him regardless of their lack of uncooked stuff, d’Arnaud cited the well-traveled Jesse Chavez. The appropriate-hander, who introduced his retirement only a few days in the past, toed the rubber for 9 groups over 18 big-league seasons. He was traded 10 occasions, essentially the most of any participant in MLB historical past.
“He was a command man once we had been along with the Braves,” the catcher defined. “He was capable of backdoor a two-seam, front-hip a cutter. He didn’t overpower guys. His was extra of an old-school sport, which you don’t see a lot of anymore.”
Which brings us to 1 final query I had for d’Arnaud: Are there any pitchers you’ve caught the place you by no means fairly discovered what made them so efficient?
“Not likely,” he replied. “I might say that I can all the time determine why. But when it doesn’t make sense, it’s often deception. Their physique tells you the ball ought to do one factor, and the ball does one other factor. Or perhaps they simply disguise it very well and also you don’t see it till it’s on you. I don’t know for those who can quantify that, nevertheless it makes a man exhausting to hit.”
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FARM NOTES
Konnor Griffin is slashing .329/.407/.516 with 13 house runs, 44 steals, and a 158 wRC+ between Low-A Bradenton and Excessive-A Greensboro. Drafted ninth-overall final yr out of a Mississippi highschool, the 19-year-old shortstop/centerfielder got here into the season No. 3 on our Pittsburgh Pirates Prime Prospects record.
JJ Wetherholt is slashing .309/.426/.520 with 11 house runs, 14 steals, and a 161 wRC+ between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis. Drafted seventh-overall final yr out of West Virginia College, the 22-year-old shortstop./second baseman is No. 1 on our St. Louis Cardinals Prime Prospects record.
Hagen Smith has a 3.32 ERA, a 3.65 FIP, and a 36.5% strikeout charge over 12 begins comprising 40-and-two-thirds innings for Double-A Birmingham. Drafted fifth general final yr out of the College of Arkansas, the 21-year-old left-hander was No.3 on our Chicago White Sox Prime Prospects record when it was printed in mid-April.
Kash Mayfield has a 3.22 ERA, a 3.10 FIP, and a 34.6% strikeout charge over 13 begins comprising 36-and-a-third innings for Low-A Lake Elsinore. Drafted Twenty fifth-overall final yr out of an Oklahoma highschool, the 20-year-old southpaw is No. 5 on our San Diego Padres Prime Prospects record.
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Charlie Manuel was a hitting coach earlier than occurring to handle the Cleveland Indians from 2000-2002, and later the Philadelphia Phillies from 2005-2013. In response to Scott Miller’s Skipper: Why Baseball Managers Matter (and All the time Will), Manuel’s motivation methods weren’t all the time normal fare. This excerpt from the e-book is an effective instance:
“As a hitting coach in Cleveland, he actually would wrestle with slugger Manny Ramirez to get his blood pumping sufficient to go within the batting cage to do his work — and preserve his focus the place it wanted to be. The group can be getting ready for its pregame actions and there can be it six-four, 195-pound hitting coach and its six-foot, 225-pound slugger rolling round on the clubhouse carpet, every trying to place the opposite right into a headlock.”
Manuel, who would have been in his early-to-mid 50s on the time, performed for the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers previous to becoming a member of the teaching ranks. He hit the final of his 4 big-home runs off of Catfish Hunter on July 29, 1972.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
At Sportico, Barry Bloom opined on how baseball is shedding grasp of its personal historical past in an period of recent guidelines.
Over at Driveline’s weblog, Travis Sawchik shared information exhibiting that Greg Maddux was certainly an excessive outlier by way of command.
At Opta Analyst, Ryan Fagan wrote about how the hitting of third basemen is turning into offensive, simply not within the good sense.
Tom Hamilton was honored on the Corridor of Fame yesterday. Zack Meisel wrote about the Ford C. Frick Award-winner — nonetheless on high of his sport within the Cleveland Guardians radio sales space at age 70 — for The Athletic (subscription required).
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal just lately wrote that New York Yankees shortstop is “the baseball equal of a trainer’s pet.” Manny Gómez weighed in on that opinion for NJ.com.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
The Baltimore Orioles’ 18-0 conquest of the Colorado Rockies yesterday was the most important shutout win in group historical past. The Birds blanked the Chicago White Sox 17-0 on in the present day’s date in 1969.
The Toronto Blue Jays have a plus-48 run differential and lead the AL East with a document of 63-42. The Tampa Bay Rays have a plus-55 run differential and are fourth within the AL East with a document of 53-52.
Colorado Rockies pitchers have this season’s highest curveball utilization at 15.8%. The (Don’t name us Sacramento) Athletics have the bottom curveball utilization at simply 2.4%. At 77.8 mph, the A’s even have the bottom curveball velocity. Tampa Bay Rays pitchers have the best curveball velocity at 83.0 mph.
Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya has 100 plate appearances, 13 extra-base hits, and 25 RBIs. Boston Crimson Sox catcher Connor Wong has 104 plate appearances, one extra-base hit, and one RBI.
Byron Buxton and Trevor Story are each a prefect 17-for-17 in stolen base makes an attempt. Xander Bogaerts is 16-for-17.
Bryce Harper has performed in 1,729 video games and has 1,746 hits and 351 house runs. Dick Allen performed in 1,749 video games and had 1,848 hits and 351 house runs. Harper has a 142 wRC+ and 54.4 WAR. Allen had a 155 wRC+ and 61.3 WAR.
Bobby Grich had 1,833 hits, 224 house runs, a 129 wRC+, and 69.2 WAR.
Tony Oliva had 1,917 hits, 220 house runs, a 129 wRC+, and 40.7 WAR.
Moises Alou had 2,134 hits, 332 house runs, a 129 wRC+, and 47.7 WAR.
Ken Ash was credited with a win whereas throwing only one pitch because the Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 6-4 on in the present day’s date in 1930. The lone batter he confronted hit right into a triple play, after which Ash was pinch-hit for throughout his membership’s game-deciding rally.
On in the present day’s date in 1975, Duane Kuiper hit bases-loaded triples in each the primary and fifth inning because the Cleveland Indians routed the New York Yankees 17-5. The guests scored 9 occasions within the preliminary body, with Catfish Hunter failing to retire any of the six batters he confronted.
Gamers born on in the present day’s date embody Larry Biittner, an outfielder/first baseman whose lone pitching look stands out for its mixture of Ks and gophers. Mopping up in a 19-3 Chicago Cubs loss to the Montreal Expos on July 4, 1977, Biittner fanned three of the ten batters he confronted, however was additionally taken deep 3 times. Seven weeks earlier, he’d homered twice in a 23-6 Cubs win over the San Diego Padres. All instructed, the Pocahontas, Iowa native logged 861 hits whereas taking part in for 4 groups from 1970-1983.
Additionally born on in the present day’s date was Brian Kingman, a right-hander whose 23-45 profession document contains going 8-20 with a 3.83 ERA for the Oakland Athletics in 1980. The one pitcher to lose 20 video games in a single season since Kingman’s hard-luck marketing campaign is Mike Maroth, who went 9-21 with the Detroit Tigers in 2003.
