Austin Hays is having a productive-when-healthy season with the Cincinnati Reds. The 30-year-old outfielder has missed time with a calf strain, a hamstring strain, and a foot contusion, but he’s also slashed .282/.338/.510 with 10 home runs in 228 plate appearances. Moreover, his 128 wRC+ and .360 wOBA are both second on the team (behind Elly De La Cruz) among those with at least 140 PAs.
His résumé is that of a solid hitter. From 2021-2023— his first full seasons in the majors — Hays had 97 doubles and 54 home runs, as well as a wRC+ ranging between 106 and 111. Those three seasons were spent with the Baltimore Orioles, who subsequently swapped him to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Seranthony Domínguez and Cristian Pache a few days before last July’s trade deadline. Hays’s 2024 campaign was the worst of his career. Hampered by injuries and illness — a kidney infection proved most problematic — he had a 97 wRC+ while playing in just 85 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 item: the reasons behind the success he’s currently having.
“Consistency is probably the biggest thing,” Hays told me. “There’s not always an adjustment to be made. Sometimes it’s just the game [and] you’re being pitched tough. I don’t want to be altering too much of what I do well. In the past, I would sometimes pay too much attention to what the pitcher was doing and try to adjust to that. Staying strong to my strengths — locking in on those strengths — is going to help me over the course of 162 [games].”
Hays went on to say that he wants the pitcher to come to him, and if he executes his pitches, so be it. There is no reason to try to correct anything, because baseball is baseball and pitchers are going to get you out. When that happens, he’ll simply tip his cap.
A night earlier, it was the hitter who had the upper hand. After fanning his first time up, Hays hammered a 397-foot triple and a 414-foot home run in his next two opportunities. I asked the righty slugger about those results.
“I was looking for a ball to start in a certain section of the plate,” explained Hays, who did the damage against Garrett Crochet at Fenway Park. “He made a couple of mistakes on heaters. If they would have been top rail, right at or even slightly above the zone — or maybe they were dotted on the inside corner — it would have been, ‘OK, they’re strikes and I need to swing at them.’ But those are pitcher’s pitches. I’m trying to put the barrel on the ball, and if they’re not in an area where you do damage, you can’t expect to do damage. You cover what you can cover, but when you see guys hit home runs, or hit the ball very hard on a line, the pitch is generally in a good part of the plate.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Ozzie Guillen went 10 for 19 against Danny Jackson.
Sean Berry went 10 for 18 against Donovan Osborne.
Tim Hulett went 10 for 20 against Bud Black.
Aramis Ramirez went 12 for 21 against CC Sabathia.
Cal Ripken Jr. went 12 for 23 against Lary Sorensen.
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The small-market Milwaukee Brewers have been consistently good for several years running, Currently contesting the Chicago Cubs for first place in the NL Central, “The Crew” is on track to play postseason baseball for the seventh time in eight seasons. Just why they’ve been good is a question my colleague Michael Baumann delved into just this past week, and he hasn’t been the only one in search of a reason. I’ve recently asked a pair of former Brewers — one a player, the other a coach — for their perspectives.
“That’s a hard question to answer,” said Texas Rangers left-hander Hoby Milner, who pitched in Milwaukee from 2021-2024. “I feel that for years, the starting pitching kind of carried them. The back of the bullpen was very good, too. I remember seeing a stat that if we scored four runs in a game, our winning percentage was something like 95 percent. Whatever the number, it was really high. Another thing is that they focus on the little things really well. They just do a good job of getting the most out of what they’ve got.”
What the Brewers get out of pitchers who are anything but household names has stood out. Hidden gems signed off the scrap heap have become a thing for one of baseball’s smartest organizations.
“Whatever their formula is for finding pitchers… I mean, they find guys,” Milner said when asked about the unearthed diamonds.”They maybe have some sort of movement profile, or a specific pitch that performs really well, and [the Brewers pitching department] figures out how to maximize it. They’re like, ‘OK, somebody is using this guy wrong; we’ll bring him in and tweak something, we’ll use him in the right way.’ They’ve had quite a few examples of that happening.”
Walker McKinven shared similar thoughts on the club that employed him from 2016-2024. Now the bench coach for the Chicago White Sox, McKinven worked in both the front office and on the major league staff, giving him a behind-the-scenes understanding of the inner workings (which isn’t to say he was about to share any proprietary information).
“The Brewers have a track record of identifying talent on the way up,” said McKinven, who was involved in both acquisitions and development at different points in his tenure. “That’s the way they have to do it. They have to catch guys with the arrow pointing up, not necessarily pay what it costs to get guys who are already good. And they’re not just good at evaluating talent. They trust their coaches to develop these players into what they think they can be.”
As you might expect, analytics contribute heavily to that success.
“Using information to our advantage was a huge piece of the pie in my roles, and in general with that organization,” said the 36-year-old Georgia College & State College graduate (and former indie-ball pitcher). “I consider the word analytics to be evidenced-based decision-making, and we used evidenced-based decision-making to acquire players, improve players, and game-plan for opponents.”
And then there is what might be the team’s most under-appreciated asset. McKinven knows as well as anyone that you can’t win at a high level by simply out-smarting the opposition. You also need good baseball players.
“They’ve made the playoffs in six of the last seven years, and that takes a lot of talent,” he said. “You don’t make the playoffs without talent.”
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A quiz:
Three players in Dodgers franchise history have recorded 2,000 or more hits. Zack Wheat and Pee Wee Reese are two of them. Who is the third? (A hint: 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 called his 3,000th consecutive game yesterday. The Midwest League club is the Milwaukee Brewers’ High-A affiliate.
Jeff Bittiger, who pitched in 33 games across the 1986-1989 seasons, died on July 19 at age 63. All but six of the right-hander’s appearances were with the White Sox — he also toed the rubber three times each with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Minnesota Twins — with the bulk of his action coming in 1988 with Chicago’s South Side team. Bittiger’s lone big-league hit was a home run off of Pittsburgh’s Bob Kipper.
Bill Denehy, a right-handed pitcher who went 1-10 with a 4.56 ERA while playing for three teams from 1967-1971, has died at age 79 (per SABR’s Facebook page). The Middletown, Connecticut native made 31 of his 49 appearances with the Detroit Tigers, those in his final season.
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The answer to the quiz is Willie Davis, who had 2,091 hits while playing with the Dodgers from 1960-1973. If you guessed Steve Garvey, he had 1,968 hits as a Dodger.
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The 2025 Dodgers are a star-studded club, but there are less-famous players making meaningful contributions as well. Who among them most stands out? In the eyes of one of their radio broadcasters, a 24-year-old outfielder with a 126 wRC+ and 3.2 WAR best fits that description.
“The stars you would expect to do something,” Tim Neverett told me. “You see Shohei do superman stuff almost every night. Freddie Freeman continues to walk off games. Mookie is Mookie. But a guy who has really helped the team this year is Andy Pages, the centerfielder. He’s bordering on 20 home runs. He’s been really good defensively, and can also play right field and left field when they need him to. He’s robbed four or five home runs this year.
“He’s a guy who has really been under the radar for this team,” added Neverett. “He’s maybe not someone you look at and say, ‘Well, here’s another star’… although we thought he might even get enough All-Star votes. He fell short, but that’s OK. I think he’s going to be in there in coming years. Andy Pages has been an X factor.”
Pages has a .286/.328/.488 slash line and 19 home runs to go with his aforementioned 126 wRC+. In the field, he has eight DRS and seven OOA.
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A random obscure former player snapshot:
Shannon Withem’s big-league career was brief. A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan who’d been drafted out of Willow Run High School in nearby Ypsilanti by the Detroit Tigers in 1990, he made his lone appearance as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998. It was a successful one. Pitching in relief against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Withem went three innings and surrendered just a lone run. Prior to getting his September cup of coffee, he’d gone 17-5 with a 3.27 ERA for Triple-A Syracuse.
Released by the Blue Jays that winter, the right-hander subsequently spent the 1999 season with NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, only to incur an elbow injury and see his career come to an end. Withem reportedly threw seven no-hitters in high school, one in which he fanned 21 batters over the seven-inning effort.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Pacific League beat the Central League in each of this week’s All-Star games, winning by scores of 5-1 and 10-7. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks ace Livan Moinelo had the most-notable performance in Game One. Not only did the 29-year-old southpaw toss two scoreless innings, he retired the final batter he faced 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 nine batters he faced, three by way of the K. A two-way player who was drafted in the first round last year, the 19-year-old right-handed pitcher/left-handed batter had been playing for the Pacific League’s top farm club.
Jake Cave is slashing .314/.356/.478 with 10 home runs and a 133 wRC+ over 379 plate appearances for the KBO’s Doosan Bears. The 32-year-old outfielder signed with the KBO club over the winter after playing for three teams over seven big-league seasons.
Robinson Canó is slashing .365/.418/.542 and has gone deep 11 times 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, including 764 doubles and 409 home runs, over 25 professional seasons.
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Travis d’Arnaud was featured here in Sunday Notes last month talking about Bartolo Colon and other pitchers he caught with the New York Mets from 2013-2018. Left on the cutting-room floor from my conversation with the veteran backstop were his thoughts on some other notable hurlers.
“When I was with the Rays [in 2019], their bullpen arms were phenomenal,” recalled d’Arnaud, who is in his first season with the Los Angeles Angels following five with the Atlanta Braves. “Their starters, too. There was Chuck Nasty [Charlie Morton], whose curveball was something I’d never seen anything like before. Blake Snell was dominant. Tyler Glasnow was dominant. Then I went to the Braves where I caught Max Fried. I’ve never seen a guy’s ball never go straight. It just moved every direction at all times, some more than others. On top of that, he could command it.
“And then, obviously, Spencer Strider,” the personable 36-year-old added. “I’ve never seen a unicorn heater like that. A low slot, with that much rise, and going over 100 [mph] on every heater. That’s pretty wild.”
Asked about pitchers who have stood out to him despite their lack of raw stuff, d’Arnaud cited the well-traveled Jesse Chavez. The right-hander, who announced his retirement just a few days ago, toed the rubber for nine teams over 18 big-league seasons. He was traded 10 times, the most of any player in MLB history.
“He was a command guy when we were together with the Braves,” the catcher explained. “He was able to backdoor a two-seam, front-hip a cutter. He didn’t overpower guys. His was more of an old-school game, which you don’t see much of anymore.”
Which brings us to one last question I had for d’Arnaud: Are there any pitchers you’ve caught where you never quite figured out what made them so effective?
“Not really,” he replied. “I would say that I can always figure out why. But if it doesn’t make sense, it’s usually deception. Their body tells you the ball should do one thing, and the ball does another thing. Or maybe they just hide it really well and you don’t see it until it’s on you. I don’t know if you can quantify that, but it makes a guy hard to hit.”
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FARM NOTES
Konnor Griffin is slashing .329/.407/.516 with 13 home runs, 44 steals, and a 158 wRC+ between Low-A Bradenton and High-A Greensboro. Drafted ninth-overall last year out of a Mississippi high school, the 19-year-old shortstop/centerfielder came into the season No. 3 on our Pittsburgh Pirates Top Prospects list.
JJ Wetherholt is slashing .309/.426/.520 with 11 home runs, 14 steals, and a 161 wRC+ between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis. Drafted seventh-overall last year out of West Virginia University, the 22-year-old shortstop./second baseman is No. 1 on our St. Louis Cardinals Top Prospects list.
Hagen Smith has a 3.32 ERA, a 3.65 FIP, and a 36.5% strikeout rate over 12 starts comprising 40-and-two-thirds innings for Double-A Birmingham. Drafted fifth overall last year out of the University of Arkansas, the 21-year-old left-hander was No.3 on our Chicago White Sox Top Prospects list when it was published in mid-April.
Kash Mayfield has a 3.22 ERA, a 3.10 FIP, and a 34.6% strikeout rate over 13 starts comprising 36-and-a-third innings for Low-A Lake Elsinore. Drafted 25th-overall last year out of an Oklahoma high school, the 20-year-old southpaw is No. 5 on our San Diego Padres Top Prospects list.
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Charlie Manuel was a hitting coach before going on to manage the Cleveland Indians from 2000-2002, and later the Philadelphia Phillies from 2005-2013. According to Scott Miller’s Skipper: Why Baseball Managers Matter (and Always Will), Manuel’s motivation techniques weren’t always standard fare. This excerpt from the book is a good example:
“As a hitting coach in Cleveland, he literally would wrestle with slugger Manny Ramirez to get his blood pumping enough to go in the batting cage to do his work — and keep his concentration where it needed to be. The team would be preparing for its pregame activities and there would be it six-four, 195-pound hitting coach and its six-foot, 225-pound slugger rolling around on the clubhouse carpet, each attempting to put the other into a headlock.”
Manuel, who would have been in his early-to-mid 50s at the time, played for the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers prior to joining the coaching ranks. He hit the last of his four 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 losing grasp of its own history in an era of new rules.
Over at Driveline’s blog, Travis Sawchik shared data showing that Greg Maddux was indeed an extreme outlier in terms of command.
At Opta Analyst, Ryan Fagan wrote about how the hitting of third basemen is becoming offensive, just not in the good sense.
Tom Hamilton was honored at the Hall of Fame yesterday. Zack Meisel wrote about the Ford C. Frick Award-winner — still on top of his game in the Cleveland Guardians radio booth at age 70 — for The Athletic (subscription required).
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal recently wrote that New York Yankees shortstop is “the baseball equivalent of a teacher’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 largest shutout win in team history. The Birds blanked the Chicago White Sox 17-0 on today’s date in 1969.
The Toronto Blue Jays have a plus-48 run differential and lead the AL East with a record of 63-42. The Tampa Bay Rays have a plus-55 run differential and are fourth in the AL East with a record of 53-52.
Colorado Rockies pitchers have this season’s highest curveball usage at 15.8%. The (Don’t call us Sacramento) Athletics have the lowest curveball usage at just 2.4%. At 77.8 mph, the A’s also have the lowest curveball velocity. Tampa Bay Rays pitchers have the highest curveball velocity at 83.0 mph.
Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya has 100 plate appearances, 13 extra-base hits, and 25 RBIs. Boston Red Sox catcher Connor Wong has 104 plate appearances, one extra-base hit, and one RBI.
Byron Buxton and Trevor Story are both a prefect 17-for-17 in stolen base attempts. Xander Bogaerts is 16-for-17.
Bryce Harper has played in 1,729 games and has 1,746 hits and 351 home runs. Dick Allen played in 1,749 games and had 1,848 hits and 351 home 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 home runs, a 129 wRC+, and 69.2 WAR.
Tony Oliva had 1,917 hits, 220 home runs, a 129 wRC+, and 40.7 WAR.
Moises Alou had 2,134 hits, 332 home runs, a 129 wRC+, and 47.7 WAR.
Ken Ash was credited with a win while throwing just one pitch as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 6-4 on today’s date in 1930. The lone batter he faced hit into a triple play, after which Ash was pinch-hit for during his club’s game-deciding rally.
On today’s date in 1975, Duane Kuiper hit bases-loaded triples in both the first and fifth inning as the Cleveland Indians routed the New York Yankees 17-5. The visitors scored nine times in the initial frame, with Catfish Hunter failing to retire any of the six batters he faced.
Players born on today’s date include Larry Biittner, an outfielder/first baseman whose lone pitching appearance stands out for its mix 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 10 batters he faced, but was also taken deep three times. Seven weeks earlier, he’d homered twice in a 23-6 Cubs win over the San Diego Padres. All told, the Pocahontas, Iowa native logged 861 hits while playing for four teams from 1970-1983.
Also born on today’s date was Brian Kingman, a right-hander whose 23-45 career record includes going 8-20 with a 3.83 ERA for the Oakland Athletics in 1980. The only pitcher to lose 20 games in a single season since Kingman’s hard-luck campaign is Mike Maroth, who went 9-21 with the Detroit Tigers in 2003.
