MLB · LF · San Diego Padres
Austin Hays
B/T R/R · 5' 10" · 200 lb · born Daytona Beach, FL, USA · age 31 · draft 2016 rd 3 · played LF 39, DH 16, RF 11 · MLB debut 2017-09-07
Last 14 days (through 2026-09-01): 7 G · .176 AVG · 0 HR · 0 RBI · .439 OPS
91 plate appearances scored this season His season card →
Scout’s note
A Daytona Beach product taken in the 3rd round of the 2016 draft, Hays is a career .262 hitter across 698 games who posted a .273 average and .818 OPS in 4 MLB games this fortnight — with zero walks.
Note written · FVR scout (GLM-5.2)
What he’s paid
Free agent after this seasonA market fact, not an engine read: what a club decided about him, on the season before this one. Figures from Cot’s, as of .
- 2026 salary
- $0.21M
- Tax hit
- $0.21M
- Service time
- 6 yr 57 d
- Options left
- 1 / 3
The deal 1 year $6M (2026)
On the sheet: 1 y/$6M (26)+27 m opt · agent MAS+
Regime read from his service time, not from the sheet — it does not project him past this season. Super Two eligibility is the top 22% of a class and can move this line in a way service time alone cannot see.
Cash and the tax hit are two different rulebooks and are never subtracted from one another — see the payroll board for his club, San Diego Padres.
A second set of books
The same contract, read by MLB Spreadsheets (Ethan Hullihen), as of . We keep two sources on this because one source cannot check itself.
- Tax AAV
- $6.00M
- Guaranteed
- $6.00M
- Term
- 1 yr
What the sheet prices each season at
| Season | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Salary | $5.0M | $8.0M |
A base salary under his own reading, and never subtracted from the cash figure above: a signing bonus lands in one and not the other, so the two disagree on most men without either being wrong. And the sheet does not mark which future seasons are GUARANTEED — a club option and a projected arbitration award are both just a number here, so read past the end of the deal as his forecast rather than as money owed.
Two sources, read a month apart, put this guarantee at the same dollar. That is the check, and it passed.
The tax AAV above is his number under the CBA’s own rulebook, not the average we work out from Cot’s total. On a contract with deferred money the two come apart on purpose — and neither is subtracted from the other.
Collect Austin Hays
If the signal is right, the cardboard usually finds out later. Current listings:
Austin Hays cards on eBay →Paid link — as an eBay Partner, FVR earns from qualifying purchases.
Not financial advice. We take positions only after publication — never before. Misses stay on the record.
The Bureau on Austin Hays
The scouting press, in their own words
White Sox are planning to place outfielder. Austin Hays on release waivers. Missed most of season due to injury, but was scheduled to be activated from rehab. Could be an interesting righthanded bat for a team that missed out before deadline
Umpire favor
-0.1 net runs over 8 graded games — an even shake from the zone this season.
The line
Bio & season lines: MLB StatsAPI · refreshed nightly · abbreviations →