The Cincinnati Reds seemingly addressed their outfield issues on Tuesday, agreeing to a 1-year contract with free agent outfielder Austin Hays. It’s a $5 million pact, per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic, and Hays will bring some much needed right-handed prowess to an otherwise lefty-heavy outfield mix.
#Reds adding OF Austin Hays, agreeing to a one-year, $5M deal, according to The Athletic’s @ken-rosenthal.bsky.social.
An All-Star in 2023, Hays started last season with the Orioles, the team that drafted him in 2016, before being traded to the Phillies www.nytimes.com/athletic/609…
— C Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent.bsky.social) 2025-01-28T17:06:20.691Z
Reds outfielders posted a collective 85 wRC+ during the course of the 2024 season, with regression from Will Benson and Spencer Steer paired with the brutal string of injuries to TJ Friedl and the absence of Jake Fraley due to family reasons. That ranked tied for the fifth worst mark in the game, and their production against LHP (84 wRC+) ranked tied for fourth worst.
In Hays, the Reds will (in theory) get someone who can help out against LHP. He’s the owner of a .800 OPS in over 700 career PA against southpaws, a number that far outpaces the .719 OPS he’s put up against RHP in his career. Those numbers were even more drastic in 2024 as he put up an impressive .941 OPS against LHP in 90 PA split between Baltimore and Philadelphia while the .569 OPS he posted against RHP in 165 PA was completely unplayable.
That’s the hope here, really. Hays will join Stuart Fairchild and Spencer Steer as OF options against LHP, with Friedl, Benson, Steer, and Fraley the go-to options on the other side of the platoon. Whereas it would have been nice for the Reds to actually sign a full-time, impact player to join the ranks of their outfield, it appears they’ve settled on doing it in piecemeal fashion once again.
It should be pointed out that Hays, 29, is coming off the single worst season of his career and that his former team, the Orioles, opted to move on from his last year during that dip in favor of their talented crop of young outfielders instead, flipping him to the Phillies (who non-tendered him at season’s end). He dealt with a pretty significant kidney infection during the 2024 season, however, and the hope here is that the illness was to blame for his dip in production.
Still, he’s the owner of a career .313 OBP and plays on the short side of a platoon. Even if he does return to what he does best, that makes him mostly a bench-bat. It’s also worth pointing out that while Baltimore moved on from Hays altogether, they just inked Dylan Carlson – who’s younger and a pretty solid defender – for 1/5th of what Hays just was guaranteed by the Reds.
It’s hard to think anything other than this is it for the Reds offseason transactions of note for their position player corps. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether or not it’s enough.
The Cincinnati Reds have bolstered their outfield depth by signing Austin Hays to a 1-year deal. Hays, a talented young outfielder, brings a combination of speed, power, and defensive prowess to the Reds lineup.
With Hays joining the Reds, the team now has added another dynamic player to their roster who can contribute both at the plate and in the field. Hays has shown flashes of brilliance in his young career and will be looking to make a significant impact in Cincinnati.
Fans of the Reds can look forward to seeing Hays patrolling the outfield and making plays both offensively and defensively. His addition adds depth and versatility to the team’s roster, giving them even more options to work with throughout the season.
Overall, the signing of Austin Hays is a positive move for the Cincinnati Reds and adds another exciting player to their already talented lineup. Stay tuned for more updates as the season approaches.
Tags:
Cincinnati Reds, Austin Hays, 1-year deal, MLB, baseball, outfielder, signing news, Cincinnati Reds roster, Cincinnati Reds news
#Cincinnati #Reds #sign #Austin #Hays #1year #deal
Leave a Reply