It's not Luis Robert Jr. or one of the top available bats on the market, but the Phillies acquired the right-handed-hitting outfielder they'd been seeking, completing a trade Friday with the Baltimore Orioles to acquire Austin Hays for Seranthony Dominguez and Cristian Pache.
Hays is a 29-year-old, right-handed-hitting outfielder who has hit .328 against lefties this season with a .791 OPS for his career. He was a mainstay in the Orioles' lineup from 2021-23 but had become a less vital player on a roster loaded with young position players and prospects graduating to the majors. Overall, he's hit .255/.316/.395 in 175 plate appearances, having missed three weeks in April and May with a calf strain.
Hays broke out in 2021 with 22 home runs. Last season, he hit .314 with an .853 OPS in the first half and started in center field for the American League in the All-Star Game.
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Hays is owed the remainder of his $6.3 million salary this year. This winter will be his final time going through the arbitration process and he's a free agent after 2025.
The Phillies had been looking for a right-handed outfielder to platoon with Brandon Marsh in left field. Marsh is an important part of the team but he hasn't hit lefties, going 7-for-50 (.140) with 26 strikeouts.
Whit Merrifield was signed at the start of spring training to fill this role but didn't hit. He was released on July 12 after batting .199 and has since latched on with the Braves.
Pache didn't hit enough either. He ends his Phillies career with a .218/.302/.335 slash line in 213 plate appearances and wasn't a viable enough option offensively to pair with Marsh.
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The Phillies have been utilizing Weston Wilson in the left field platoon role since Merrifield's release and he has been helpful at times, but Hays is a more proven option for a team with deep postseason aspirations.
Dominguez' departure is simultaneously surprising and unsurprising. Surprising in the sense that a team in win-now mode traded a bullpen staple, unsurprising in that he'd struggled most of the year and looked like a potential change-of-scenery candidate. You have to give to get, and the Phillies were able to acquire Hays without trading any prospects.
The Phillies signed Dominguez all the way back in 2011 out of the Dominican Republic and he turned into one of the international scouting success stories, reaching the majors in 2018 and dazzling as a big-strikeout closer. He was sidelined by an elbow injury in 2019 and underwent Tommy John surgery the next summer, eventually making it back for the 2022 season. He made 54 appearances that year and 57 the next with a combined 3.39 ERA.
Dominguez leaves the Phillies with some of the best postseason numbers in franchise history. In 16 innings, he allowed two runs for a 1.13 ERA with 25 strikeouts and four walks. He should find a solid role in Baltimore's pen, rejoining 2023 teammate Craig Kimbrel.
Hays will start regularly for the Phillies against left-handed pitching and could face his share of righties, too, giving manager Rob Thomson the option to optimize for offense some nights by playing Marsh in center with Hays in left.