NEW YORK — The educated guess was that it was something he ate, but no matter the cause, Austin Hays had never dealt with anything like it before.
“Once we found the infection and we were able to start treating it, it didn’t heal quite as quick as we would have liked,” the Phillies’ still-sort-of-new left fielder said Tuesday before starting Game 3 of the National League Division Series against the Mets at Citi Field. “We went back, kept running the tests, kept trying to figure out what was going on.”
What was going on was a kidney infection that wound up taking three weeks from Hays during September, as he was trying to earn a niche in both the Phillies’ clubhouse and lineup. What helped him out, in addition to the work of the club’s medical and training staffs, was the way the Phillies’ stretch drive worked.
They clinched the National League East early, leaving Hays time to play several games at the end of the month. But just gravy on top of what was really important. “That was to see everything clear up,” he said, “and know 100% that it’s gone, and I’m healthy. That was a big part of it, too, just to know I’m on the other side of it.”
Until this season, Hays seemed to be on a starring trajectory with an up-and-coming Baltimore team. An outfielder who could hit for average and power, he hit .309 with a .947 OPS during 21 games in 2019 while eventually graduating from the minors, but the pandemic slowed his rise. By 2021, however, he hit .256 with 22 home runs and a .769 OPS, then 16 homers each of the next two seasons, batting .250 and .275.
This season, Hays found his playing time decreased. After playing 63 games with only three homers and 14 RBIs, he found himself in Philadelphia in late July for reliever Seranthony Dominguez and part-timer Cristian Pache. Hays hasn’t had a chance to live up to the billing as a platoon option who can offer pop off the bench.
He missed two weeks in August due to a hamstring injury, then was hit with an infection that seemed to take too long for him to clear. Until he did.
“I feel like I’m back to being myself,” said Hays, who in 22 Phils games hit .256 with two homers and six RBIs. “I don’t feel reserved in any way, in any facet of the game. My power is there, my strength is there, my speed. So I feel like myself all around.
“It was very difficult to get back to that point. We really had to push hard. I’m thankful for the training staff here and all the doctors to just give me a lot of clarity and know that we were on the other side of that thing. It was really hard for us to figure out what was going on at first.”
Once they did, while going through treatment, Hays said there were setbacks.
“I started feeling better, my labs were coming back normal. I felt good for a few days and then started feeling a lot of the same effects again,” he said. “We went back, retested everything. And then the results actually came back really good. So I think I was just trying to push it a little too hard too early, my body just wasn’t ready.”
He was able to play a few games near season’s end, then the five-day break earned while other teams battled in the wild card round offered more time for Hays to sharpen.
Hays was in the starting lineup Tuesday for Game 3 and will be again Wednesday in Game 4, because the Mets start left-handers Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana.
“I told him at the start of the series that he’s going to start against left-hand pitching,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “But it was good to get him an at-bat (a strikeout in Game 2), get him in that environment. I think that it probably speeds up on a guy the first time you get an at-bat in that environment. Now as he’s had it, I think it will relax him moving forward.”
But along with that at-bat, Hays had a chance to experience two games of playoff baseball in Philadelphia.
“Yeah, the Red October is real; it was awesome,” Hays said. “That (Game 2) might have been the most fun baseball game I’ve been a part of. Just the back and forth, ups and downs. And then for us to come back and win in walk-off fashion … it was really special.
“It’s a really loud stadium. I’m looking forward to playing some more games there.”
