Hays' MRI results 'weight off' Orioles' shoulders

SARASOTA, Fla. -- The Orioles believe they’ve avoided the worst with outfield prospect Austin Hays after an MRI revealed Hays has a “mild sprain” in his left thumb, Baltimore general manager and executive vice president Mike Elias said Monday.

Hays sustained the injury sliding headfirst on the bases Saturday in Minor League camp. Elias said it is expected to sideline Hays for a matter of “more weeks than months.”

“Obviously, that can always evolve, but it was about as good news as we could have hoped for,” Elias said. ”It was a weight off his shoulders, and ours.”

The club’s No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline, Hays was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk last Saturday on the heels of a torrid showing in Grapefruit League play. The 23-year-old hit .351 with a team-high 1.277 OPS across 12 spring games, flashing the potential that allowed him to reach the Majors as a 21-year-old two summers ago. Hays won the Orioles’ Minor League Player of the Year honors that year, hitting .329 with 32 home runs and 95 RBIs across Advanced A Fredrick and Double-A Bowie.

But injuries have consistently cut into Hays' development since then. Injuries to his right shoulder and right ankle (the latter of which required bone graf surgery in September) limited him to 75 Minor League games in 2018. Despite debuting in the Majors in '17, Hays is yet to play a single inning at the Triple-A level, a fact club officials pointed to when they decided he wouldn’t break camp with the big club. Still, he was expected to see Baltimore at some point this summer before his latest setback.

“We’re very excited about how he looked, his health was a question mark coming into this camp for him and for us … this is exactly what we were looking for.” Elias said then. “We felt it was important to get him a baseline of production, get his feet under him -- literally -- and then see what we have and go from there.”