the
sports capital time for Orioles
preview birds close out there
series with the raised tonight at
Camden Yards covered here at
six o'clock for the six thirty
five star were joined by Austin
Hayes left fielder Austin Hayes
H.A.Y.S. if you don't spell out
your name specifically how often
you're not.
Hey good morning Andy.
Oh yeah I'd say more often than
not probably 80 percent 90 percent
of the time.
Yeah do you get mail that says
H.A.Y.S.
all the time.
Yeah it's probably 50 50 on when
I get something handwritten to
me that somebody's caused my name
wrong.
Yeah.
Did anybody ever look into you
know why that happened or just
you know I guess it's just over
the last year.
Yeah that's the only way it makes
sense.
There you go.
So the team is off to a terrific
start this year and you're
certainly a part of it hitting
297 this year.
What have you felt because you
know this carries over from last
year as well but what have you
felt about the start that your
team is off to this year.
Yeah a lot of people talked about
expectations during spring
and I think you know we're just
following through on those
expectations what people thought
we would do and I think we've
surpassed that almost.
We're just doing everything on
every facet of the game.
The games we're not hitting are
pitching staff picks us up.
The days we don't have starting
pitching the bullpen comes in and
their nails and when our pitchers
are out there struggling our
offense is putting up runs.
So we're just finding a way to be
in every game and give ourselves
a chance to get in the game
late.
I think that's what good teams
do.
Yeah ten games over five hundred
twenty three and thirteen and if
you look at your starting
pitching e r a it's up there and
that's an indication that you
are getting that timely hitting
that you are scoring the runs
that you need to score and you
hope that these young pitchers
and I think they will they will
settle down and the r a's get
better and Michael Elias held a
news conference yesterday and
said just that he said you got a
good chance to get better.
What do you think as they
mature as the year goes on they're
going to get better do you get
that sense.
Yeah we have a really good record
right now but I still think
there's a lot of areas that we
can improve so I think this team
can be better than what our record
shows right now and we've yet
to play our best baseball.
The turnaround from last year
traces back to Adley
Ruchman coming up that's that
maybe an oversimplification but
it's a great job with our
pitching staff.
He's got a good relationship
with everybody.
I mean you see it when guys are
coming off the field he greets
them right at the line.
Even if he's he's got to be the
first guy to lead off he's going
to make sure that he greets his
pitcher as they're coming off
the field and I think that that
really showed just the building
of those relationships with the
pitchers and how much better our
pitching staff got throughout the
year last year and then obviously
it's a great job to get better
than what you saw throughout the
year last year and then obviously
he's a phenomenal hitter too so
you put another bat into a lineup
that was already pretty good and
you see the improvements in the
record.
No question and you know you
look at your everyday lineup.
You're looking at guys mostly in
their 20s.
I mean he's only in his second
year but would you consider him
to be like a leader or a guy that
that you know like as Reggie
Jackson said the straw that
he's going to be a leader is the
drink is he that guy?
Yeah I mean he's our everyday
catcher he's our guy that commands
our pitching staff so when you have
somebody like that they're going
to have to be one of the leaders
of the team and somebody that
plays a viable role and just set
in the tone for everybody so I
would say absolutely.
Couple of things about you
personally no batting gloves.
Why?
When I was young I had to change
this story over the year because
I almost disrespected my mom a
little bit early on when I would
tell the story so I got to make
sure I say it right for her
sake.
I had told the story before that
I was going through too many
pairs of batting gloves and my
mom said I'm not getting you
anymore.
You're going through three pairs
every weekend but that's not
true.
She has told me that that was a
lie.
It was I felt bad that I was
making her buy so many pairs of
batting gloves that I told her
you know what mom I'm not going
to wear them anymore.
That was around me being probably
10 or 11 when I started playing
travel ball and doing the
tournaments every weekend.
So yeah I just stopped wearing
them because I felt like I was
going through too many pairs and
I just never went back to it.
Wow.
What a great kid.
I mean my son was not an elite
level athlete like you but what
I spent on sporting goods.
Yeah I'd like to have them on
the back so good for you for
doing that.
What about your hands though?
Is it a 10 or 11 year old?
Don't you have a lot of blisters
if you're batting batting
barehanded at that time?
To be honest with you I always
felt like I got less blisters
than the guys that wore batting
gloves.
I don't know why that is.
I don't know if it's the batting
gloves.
Sometimes they get soggy.
It makes your hands soft and you
end up ripping the skin but I
never really had an issue with
blisters even though I didn't
wear batting gloves.
Interesting.
I read where you dip your hands
in hot wax.
Do you still do that?
Yeah in double A I started doing
that when it was really cold out
and your hands would get dry.
Sometimes your taluses would start
to crack and they'd split open.
So dipping them in the hot wax
it moisturizes your hands and it
felt good because it was warm
when it's 35 degrees outside.
Yeah.
And I imagine.
I know you've played a series in
Minnesota a couple of weeks
goes really cold.
I mean is that tough when you're
batting barehanded in that kind of
weather?
As long as there's no wind then
I'm good.
Just coming the dugout real quick
put your hands in front of the
heater and you're good.
But those days where it's raining
a little bit or the wind's blowing
15 miles an hour and it's cold
it definitely makes me think twice
about why I don't wear batting.
You have been.
Go ahead.
I'm sorry.
So I definitely have those moments
where I'm like maybe today's
the day I put.
Hey and look I think you can
probably afford it.
Actually do players even have to
pay for batting gloves?
Does the team provide them?
I think guys have their own
deals with whatever batting
company they might know one of
the reps or they just have
companies that send them
batting gloves to try out just to
you know rep their stuff on TV.
It just depends on the person.
I think some people even get paid
to wear batting gloves.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's right.
You're cheating yourself out of
money and you could have paid your
mom back for all those gloves
that she bought for.
We're talking to Austin Hayes,
left fielder for the Orioles.
You've been mostly durable but
looking at how your career got
off the ground it was it was a
tough go.
You were hurt all of 2018.
You played 21 games in 19 and
then COVID hits and you play
the ball.
Did you wonder if you were ever
going to get to that point where
people talk about the dog days of
August and slogging through a
season?
Was that something that was
really difficult to get through
at that time?
Yeah.
Injuries are tough.
When you're sitting on the
sidelines and you know you're
an everyday guy and you can help
the team in any way you feel like
you're just standing by and
watching games go by, watching
your career go by.
It's really tough to go through
that but I think it's a
tough game.
I felt like a lot of it was just
bad luck.
A lot of them were crazy
injuries.
There weren't a ton of things I
felt like I could have done
differently to change.
The 18 was just cartilage stuff
that worked down over time.
I got hit in the ribs, broken
ribs.
I got stepped on, hit by pitches
just crazy injuries that were
just bad luck.
It was a little easier for me to
accept that.
You know what?
I played the game the right way.
There's not really anything I
could have done about that.
But yeah, injuries are tough
when you're sitting by and you
feel like you're watching some
good years of your career and
just get wasted.
Yeah.
Well, you have been durable now
and the pain-trid state of this
team is Cal Ripken.
And when you are sitting out
with injuries, do you ever sit
back and go, how did this guy do
this?
How was it possible he was in
the lineup every day?
Yeah, I've talked about this so
many times, right?
He had to have played through
just some gruesome, crazy
injuries.
There's no way you can go 20
years without missing the game
and not play with broken bones
and pulled muscles.
There's no telling the types of
things that he played through.
Yeah.
It's incredible.
It's the most impressive stat of
any sport that will never be
broken.
It will never be touched.
Yeah.
You probably heard this story.
They had a game on a Sunday
where he got caught up in a
scrum.
They had a fight on the field and
he twisted his knee and he told
his wife that he was not going
to play and she kind of
convinced him to go and the
knee loosened up the next day
and he went.
But there are a lot of close
calls in there.
But yeah, you're right.
That's a record that will not
be touched.
Speaking of days off, you have a
day off coming up tomorrow and
it's at home.
Days off.
Do you prefer them at home or
on the road?
I prefer them at home just because
I have my family.
I have two boys now.
I usually try to hang out with
them for the first part of the
day and then during their nap
time, a little later part of the
day, the wife and I can get away
from the kids for a little bit
and have a nice little date night
to ourselves.
I prefer having them out days at
home just so I can spend time
with my family.
Do you intentionally stay away
from watching baseball?
On those days off?
No, not necessarily.
I'm a huge baseball fan.
So if it's on and it's in front
of me, I have no problem watching
it.
My wife and my boys, they love
baseball now.
I love these two and a half.
He's getting to where he's
really starting to talk now and
cheer and clap.
He loves baseball.
Got him a plastic tee ball set
yet.
You ready to...
I mean, he's Olympic.
Yeah.
He crushes the little tight
tee.
I can't trust him with a metal
bat or a real ball just because
we have a one year old and it's a
liability.
He's crazy and he's rough on the
little one.
Yeah.
And during spring training,
actually, you know the big
umbrellas where they have like a
metal stand?
Yeah.
It's down on the ground.
It's real heavy.
I mean, it's like 40 pounds.
But he wanted to use that as his
tee, which it actually turned out
being better because it's so low
to the ground.
The tee I was using before, it was
too high.
So I kept thinking, man, he just
crushes the tee every time.
But then he started putting the
ball on that and he was just
rope and line drives every time.
I'm like, dang, I'm just a bad
coach.
I didn't get him a tee that was
the right size.
So on my fall.
Next step is you got to get
Richmond to teach him to switch
slides, just to be a switch hitter.
Yeah, exactly.
I got no background in that.
Yeah.
That's right.
Whatever you're doing, you're
doing right because you're hit
close to 300.
The team is playing well and
congratulations on the start.
And good talking to you.
And by the way, stay healthy rest
of the year.
Yeah, Andy, thanks for having me
on.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
That's Austin Hayes, a left
fielder for the Orioles, who is,
you know, again, a terrific year.
He's had eight doubles on the
season, driven in 12 runs and
hitting 297 and overcoming what he
had with the start of his career,
with missing all of 2008.
Playing only 19 games in 2019 and
then the COVID year.
And then finally getting to play,
but playing for a team that lost
110 games and now playing for a
team that's good.
More on Orioles' previews.
We continue with the general
manager, Michael Elias, some of
the comments from his news
conference yesterday.
We'll get to that as we continue.
Don't go away.
Orioles continue this series or
wrap up this series with the Tampa
Bay Rays tonight as they go for
the in the rubber game to win
the series.
They had lost the series for the
first time after winning seven
straight going into this and they
can win another one.
Rays 29 and eight on the year.
Orioles 23 and 13.
And they have made some moves.
They made some roster moves in
getting ready for this series.
Let me pass those moves along to
you as they took some guys up and
took some guys down and looked at
here.
We got Drew Romm, a left-handed
pitcher being recalled from the
minors, Taryn Varara, also coming
up.
Ryan O'Hern, infielder from
Norfolk.
They placed Ramon Uris on the
ten-day injured list option
left-hander Keegan Aiken to
Norfolk and designated catcher
Luis Torrens for assignment.
And yesterday when the general
manager, Mike Elias, held his
news conference, he was asked,
is this something that we're
going to see a lot of as this
season goes on?
I don't think it's something that
we want to do for its own sake,
but I think we're in a
very, very, very, very, very
good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're in a very good position.
We're going to have to keep taking every series one of the time.
You're the second best team in the American League.
That's pretty good behind a team that's been blazing hot and a team that they beat last
night in Tampa.
As he looks up and down the roster and looks at what's ahead and immediately ahead after
this series, they've got a day off and then three at home against Pittsburgh and four at
home against the Angels.
We may see Shohei Atani take the mound.
He was on the mound yesterday.
It's possible they'll get to see him.
This is Elias on the young roster and what he sees for them as this season goes along.
Most of this team is really young.
Most of this team is not in their prime.
Most of this team does not have a lot of major league experience.
You look at a lot of those guys.
Odds are.
If they're as talented as we think they are, they should get better with time.
With our young group up here on the Orioles 26-man roster, I see a lot of these guys getting
better as the year goes along.
That's going to be a big boost and that includes pitchers like Grayson or even guys in more
of a sophomore season like Bradish.
I expect some improvement there, but it's awfully nice having so much of our very good farm
system in AAA knowing that some of those guys are going to break through too and come back.
I'm also looking forward to John Means coming back here in the second half as well.
I see more of an upward trend for this team because of all that growth and some of the
talent that could be coming up off the IL or from AAA.
That's Grayson.
As Grayson Rodriguez said before the game, he pitched last night and got his second win
of the year going five and a third.
Sky had a very disappointing spring training and started the year in the minors, which
they did not want to do, but they felt like they didn't have a choice.
He may be hitting his stride as he lowered his ERA to 5.08 and now 2-0 on the season.
The series wraps up against Tampa tonight and that will be a 6-35 start covered to your
own ESPN 630.
We'll start at 6.
I want to thank Austin Hayes for coming on today and joining us for Orioles Preview.
We enjoyed that.
Thanks to Rex Mintern for running the show.
Thanks to all of you.
Listen, Tony is coming up next and I'll see you tomorrow morning at 9am.