THE Yankees are among the teams to watch Austin Hays. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Wednesday that the free outfielder “becomes more realistic for them if” the Yankees can’t keep their main target at the post, Cody Bellingeras they navigate the market.
Heyman’s report this week has also related THE Dishes and the Kansas City Royals in 30-year-old Hays.
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In 103 games with the Cincinnati Reds last season, Hays slashed .266/.315/.453 with 15 home runs and 64 RBIs.
The Reds signed Hays to a one-year, $5 million contract last January with a mutual option of $12 million for the 2026 season and entered free agency in November after Cincinnati declined to respond to his offer. As a result, he received a $1 million buyout.
Hays split 2024 between the Baltimore Orioles and the Philadelphia Phillies, who traded him before the season’s trade deadline. In 85 games between the two teams, he slashed .255/.303/.396 with five home runs and 20 RBIs.
A kidney infection limited Hays to 22 games with the Phillies before they tendered him in November, beginning free agency.
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Hays was an All-Star for the Orioles in 2023 when he slashed .275/.325/.444 with 16 homers and 67 RBIs. He made his MLB debut on September 7, 2017, in the Orioles’ 9–1 loss to the Yankees and appeared in 74 games between 2017 and 2020. In 420 games from 2021 to 2023, Hays slashed .261/.313/.439 with 54 home runs and 198 RBIs.
The Orioles selected Hays from Jacksonville University with the No. 91 pick in the third round of the 2016 draft. MLB Draft.
