Cincinnati Reds outfielder Austin Hays will start the season on the 10-day injured list because of a left calf strain, manager Terry Francona said on Wednesday.
The move, which is retroactive to Monday, is expected to keep Hays out until at least April 3. The Reds open the season at home Thursday against the San Francisco Giants.
“He doesn’t know when he did it,” Francona said of Hays’ injury. “We got off the flight (to Cincinnati) and the next morning, he was a little sore. So, I think he just thought it would go away. The next morning, it didn’t. So, we got him scanned and it’s a very low-grade — I mean, very low-grade. But because of his history — you know, he tried to play through this last year at the beginning of the year and it got him in some trouble, so we just need to nip this in the bud.”
Hays, 29, signed as a free agent with Cincinnati on Jan. 30. He batted .310 with three home runs and 14 RBIs in 42 at-bats over 16 spring training games.
He batted a combined .255 with five home runs and 20 RBIs last season for the Baltimore Orioles (63 games) and Philadelphia Phillies (22 games).
An All-Star in 2023 with Baltimore, Hays is a career .261 hitter with 68 homers and 248 RBIs in 579 games for the Orioles (2017, 2019-24) and Phillies. Baltimore selected him in the third round of the 2016 MLB Draft.
In what he called a corresponding move on Thursday, Francona said Spencer Steer will not go on IL for right shoulder soreness, as had been announced. Instead, Steer, 27, will remain on the active roster as a designated hitter until the outfielder/infielder is ready to field a position.
Francona also said that outfielder Stuart Fairchild, 29, would be designated for assignment on Thursday. Fairchild, who is out of contractual minor league options, batted .132 in 38 at-bats in 21 spring training games. He hit .215 with eight homers and 30 RBIs in 94 games for the Reds last season.
The team also announced on Wednesday that right-handers Rhett Lowder (right forearm strain) and Alexis Diaz (left hamstring strain) and left-hander Andrew Abbott (left shoulder rotator cuff strain) were placed on the 15-day IL retroactive to Monday.
Left-hander Brandon Williamson (left UCL surgery) went on the 60-day IL.
Catcher Tyler Stephenson (left oblique strain) went on the 10-day IL retroactive to Monday, and the team selected the contract of catcher Austin Wynns from Triple-A Louisville.
