Hays headed from Bowie to Baltimore

Austin Hays' meteoric 2017 rise has skyrocketed him all the way to the big leagues.
The Orioles promoted their second-ranked prospect from Double-A Bowie, according to a report by MASN Sports' Roch Kubatko. Baltimore is 1 1/2 games behind Minnesota in the race for the American League's second Wild Card.

The 22-year-old outfielder will head to Camden Yards for Tuesday's game against the division-rival Yankees after hitting .330/.367/.594 with 16 home runs and 54 RBIs over 64 games in the Eastern League. Those numbers were virtually identical to the ones he posted at Class A Advanced Frederick, where he blasted 16 long balls and drove in 41 to augment a .328/.364/.592 batting line. Hays finished the regular season tied for second in the Minors with 32 homers overall.

A 2016 third-round pick out of Jacksonville, Hays took just over a year to navigate the Orioles farm system after debuting with a .336/.386/.514 line at Class A Short Season Aberdeen over 38 games in 2016.

Hays hit .341/.360/.529 for the Keys in April and kept his momentum rolling to earn a June 22 promotion to Bowie, where he proceeded to hit .394/.412/.636 with two homers and seven RBIs in his first eight games with the Baysox, including a four-hit, four-RBI performance June 29 against Altoona.
He capped his 2017 Minor League campaign with a bang, going 1-for-2 with a homer and three RBIs against Richmond on Monday. While he's spent the bulk of his time in the Minors playing center, Hays also has to the versatility to play right field, where he's seen action in 53 games over the past two seasons.