On Tuesday, Austin Hays told reporters over Zoom that what he hopes for most this 2021 season is to stay healthy and put together 160 games over a full season. A healthy Hays, who’s played just 74 games for Baltimore since 2017, would be fantastic. But as for the 160 games … well, I wonder if he’d settle for going splitsies?
Austin Hays had an up-and-down 2020. (Then again, didn’t we all.) Twelve games into the season, he got plunked in the ribs by a 96-mph fastball. He played through it, but over the next seven games, the pain got worse, and the team had to send him to the IL.