Austin Hays slashed .351/.385/.892 with five home runs in 40 plate appearances. Chance Sisco posted a .382/.533/.765 line with four homers in 45 trips to the plate. Evan Phillips didn’t give up a single run over 9 ⅔ innings on the mound. These are just a few of multiple young players in the Orioles’ organization who played extremely well during spring training but won’t break camp with the club.
So why in the world did the O’s option each of them to the minors?
I’m here to try to make some sense of it.
Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde have mentioned multiple times over the past six weeks that spring training stats hold little to no weight for them.
But still – an organization is in its first full year in rebuild mode and they are choosing older replacement-level players over the players in their early 20s who already have had a cup of coffee at the major-league level. Why not keep giving them the reps at the highest level?
It’s certainly possible that the old staff, led by Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter, rushed many young O’s players to the big leagues before they were 100% ready, which could’ve hindered their development.
Here are some examples.
GulfBird Sports/Craig Landefeld
The O’s drafted Hays in the third round in 2016. His first full professional season was in 2017, where he played 64 games at High-A Frederick, moved up for 64 more games at Double-A Bowie…then he gets called up to the big leagues. It was exciting to see the energized outfielder make his debut, but he is a clear example of a player being rushed through the system – for no reason, really.
Hays got sent back to Bowie in 2018, where he posted a .242/.271/.432 line in an injury-riddled season. Elias had to say this about the decision to option Hays this spring, via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com:
“In terms of the decision surrounding Austin, look at his body of work. He has not spent much time at the Double-A level. He spent zero time at the Triple-A level. And he had a bad year last year due to injury. 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. We’ll make the right determination around his career development rather than reacting to the fact that he’s had statistically probably the best camp here.”
Just because Hays was rushed to the majors in 2017 and had a strong showing in spring of 2019 doesn’t mean he’s necessarily ready to continue playing at the big-league level. Elias is looking to get the most of out his young players, and in the process may be trying to fix what the old staff broke. The first-year general manager says the organization views Hays as a center fielder, though he’s been primarily a right fielder in college and in the minors. My guess is Hays sees a lot of time in center field this year at Bowie and/or Triple-A Norfolk.
GulfBird Sports/Craig Landefeld
Now let’s take a look at Sisco. The 24-year-old backstop was drafted in the second round in 2013. Coming through the minors, he’s been well known as a bat-first catcher who had a lot of work to do defensively.
He certainly did impress with the bat, slashing .340/.406/.448 in Single-A Delmarva in 2014, then .308/.387/.422 with Frederick in 2015. He earned a promotion to Bowie in 2015, where he slashed just .257/.337/.392 over 20 games, but got on track in 2016 when he batted .320/.406/.422 in 112 games with Bowie.
In 2017, though, he got called up to Norfolk and his results weren’t as great, as he posted a .267/.340/.395 line with a high 25.5-percent strikeout rate. He then got promoted to the Orioles in September, where he had six hits in 18 at-bats.
Sisco was in competition for a catcher’s job with the O’s in spring training of last year. He broke camp with the team, but Showalter used him as a backup to Caleb Joseph, which seemed counterproductive. The O’s yo-yoed Sisco back and forth between Baltimore and Norfolk, and he failed to produce both at and behind the dish in both locations. In 184 plate appearances with the O’s, Sisco slashed .181/.288/.269 with a 35.9-percent strikeout rate. At Norfolk, he posted a .242/.344/.352 line in 151 trips to the plate.
For those who don't understand why Chance Sisco and other top prospects were optioned, Elias said that his front office puts more stock in major league and minor league stats than spring stats, and wants them to "graduate" after sufficient minor league experience. #orioles
— Peter Schmuck (@SchmuckStop) March 25, 2019
After a season to forget for the young catcher, I imagine Elias and Hyde would rather him start in Norfolk to get the bat back up to speed for longer than just six weeks in Sarasota, as well as gain confidence in his abilities behind the dish. The most important production for Sisco needs to come behind the plate, and there’s more work to be done there. You could let him focus on getting better as a backstop while in the majors, but that could provide a negative impact on the young pitchers on the O’s staff.
The final player I’ll focus on for the time being is former O’s right-hander Kevin Gausman. The Orioles drafted him with the fourth-overall pick in 2012, and quickly expedited the starter to the majors. In 2013, his first full pro year, he pitched 46 ⅓ innings at Bowie, 35 ⅔ innings at Norfolk and 47 ⅔ with the Orioles. After 2013, the O’s continued to let Gausman ride the Norfolk shuttle back-and-forth for the next couple years, which could have hindered his development and held him back from becoming what he could’ve been in an Orioles uniform.
The point is, it’s entirely possible that the new staff has recognized that young, talented players in this system have been promoted to the major leagues prior to being completely ready. And with the club not looking to contend, there’s no need to rush the players. It’s obvious the staff wants to see specific aspects of these players’ games improve before they are recalled.
So, for the time being, the O’s will roll with starters behind the dish, on the mound, and in the field who may not factor into the club’s future plans. It’s not exciting, but it’s a process that requires patience.
The club wants to see Hays become comfortable with center field and prove that 2018’s poor numbers were strictly because of his injury. They want Sisco to show he can hit Triple-A pitching and reduce the strikeout rate, and more importantly, show exceptional skills behind the dish so he can handle a big-league pitching staff. They want the hard-throwing Tanner Scott to improve his command, reduce the walks and get right-handed hitters out more frequently.
I understand the frustration with not being able to see the young kids from day one. The previous staff has rushed young talents to the majors to make one think that’s how it’s supposed to be. Elias is here to make sure those mistakes don’t happen again. Ideally, by the time the prospects are ready to take a roster spot with the O’s, the veteran doing the patch-up job for the time being performed well enough to be a trade chip for the organization.
Do you want these players to be fully developed at the major-league level? Don’t disregard the time and patience it takes. The club’s decision makers want to be sure when they put names like Sisco, Hays, Scott, Yusniel Diaz and Ryan Mountcastle on the Orioles roster, it’s for good.
