Austin Hays got the kind of night that can tell you a lot about where a rehab is headed.
For the first time in his second try at getting back from a left calf injury, Hays played all nine innings in the field Tuesday night. He didn’t just survive it. He made a three-run homer part of Charlotte’s 6-1 win over Nashville, then helped turn a leaping catch in left into a 7-4-3 double play that made Jose Urquidy’s White Sox organizational debut easier.
Now comes the real checkpoint: how his body feels after the full workload.
“This buildup's been a little bit longer, just because the amount of time I've missed,” Hays said after batting practice before the series opener at First Horizon Park. “We did the five innings, seven innings; this series, I'll be moving into the nine-inning game. So I've got nine innings tonight, make sure I turn around, recover, and then I'll play back-to-back nines.”
Hays hasn’t appeared for the White Sox since May 1, and he’s been limited to 12 games because of two separate leg injuries. The first hit on April 6, when he strained his right hamstring while charging a ball in left field. He came off the injured list three weeks later, but after three games the calf strain sent him right back to the shelf on May 4.
It’s the second straight season he’s dealt with both hamstring and calf issues, and he said the calf has been the tougher one to manage this time.
“I guess the thing with the hamstring is when you're walking, you're not really using your hamstrings, and you can jog, and it doesn't really bother you,” he explained. “It's just when you go to really push it [that it acts up], so it's easy to not go over that line in the beginning when you're coming back from hammy, because you know where your boundary is.
“But with a calf, you use it the most when you walk. So you do your rehab, it feels good, and then next thing you know, you're out with your wife and your kids, you're taking them to the park, you're just adding more and more workload to the calf on top of it, and you can't really rest it unless you just get off of your feet and sit down.
I think that's the hardest thing about the recovery is you'll feel good with it, and that it's just kind of a little tired one day, the next day you wake up, it's a little more tired, and it's more of a slow gradual breakdown, opposed to a hammy as you normally feel it right away, and you're like, 'Oh, I can't do that.' But with the calf, you feel good, and it just kind of slowly wears down on you.”
Hays said that kind of wear-down is what ended his first rehab attempt at the end of May, which is why this ramp-up has been handled more carefully. Even while he waits on his legs, he’s keeping up with the White Sox and looking ahead to a possible stretch-run return.
“I've made the playoffs three years in a row, with three different teams. I really want to go for my fourth year, with four teams, so I'm really excited to get back,” Hays said.
“I want to be back up there with those guys, they're doing great. I've gotten to talk to a lot of the guys, I see them on FaceTime, I talk to hitting coaches, so yeah, I'm ready to get back there with the boys.
“But I just want to be smart. I've had my share of injuries this year, and my legs haven't done a very good job of holding up for me, so I need to make sure I'm right before I go back.”
On the field, Charlotte’s offense got plenty from Rikuu Nishida, who went 3-for-4, and Ryan Galanie, who finished 2-for-5 with a homer and a strikeout. Hays was 1-for-5 with the homer and a strikeout. Junior Perez went 1-for-3 with a double before leaving midgame after stumbling around first on the play and finishing the circuit.
Urquidy’s organizational debut was sharp: five innings, two hits, no runs, one walk, one strikeout, and 49 of 73 pitches for strikes. Hagen Smith worked one scoreless inning with two strikeouts, and Mason Adams picked up the three-inning save despite allowing one run and four walks, with three of those walks coming in the ninth after he cruised through the first two frames. He needed two mound visits but finished the job.
Birmingham delivered the loudest offensive line of the night in a 15-5 win over Chattanooga. Colby Shelton went 3-for-4 with three homers, five RBIs and four runs scored, while Boston Smith homered, singled, walked twice, struck out once and scored three runs.
Caleb Bonemer added a 2-for-5 night with a double and a strikeout, and Anthony DePino was 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout. Ryan Burrowes made his Double-A debut and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
Connor McCullough was dominant for Birmingham, throwing five hitless innings with one walk and seven strikeouts. Mathias LaCombe took the loss after allowing four earned runs in 1.1 innings.
In Winston-Salem’s 10-6 win over Brooklyn, Javier Mogollón made his High-A debut and went 1-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts. George Wolkow finished 1-for-5 with three strikeouts, Kyle Lodise drew three walks and was caught stealing, and Jeral Perez went 1-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts. Christian Oppor had a rough outing, recording no outs while allowing two earned runs, two walks, one hit batter and four wild pitches.
In the DSL, the White Sox beat the DSL Blue Jays Blue 3-2 in seven innings. Carlos Vielma went 2-for-4, Fernando Graterol was 0-for-2 with two walks, a strikeout and a stolen base, Ronald Cardozo went 1-for-3 with a strikeout, Sebastian Romero went hitless with a walk and a strikeout, and Felix Lebron struck out in all three plate appearances.
Kannapolis and Salem was postponed.
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