Bowie notes on Hays, Akin, Mountcastle and more

Bowie, MD. - If you can be a happy player on the disabled list, Double-A Bowie outfielder Austin Hays was that on Tuesday. He was all smiles because he got positive news from a visit to a foot specialist.

Out since May 24 with a right ankle bone bruise and tendinitis, Hays found out yesterday that the walking boot he's been wearing for a couple of weeks will come off in one more week. He'll slowly work his way back after that and might be playing in minor league rehab games as soon as two to four weeks later.

Hays was the Orioles' minor league Player of the Year for 2017 and was a callup by the Orioles in September. But after dealing with a shoulder injury in spring training, he got off to a very slow start this year. Through 43 Bowie games he is batting .224//259/.374 with six homers and 18 RBIs. After posting a Bowie OPS of .960 in 64 games in the Eastern League last season, his OPS is .633 now.

Bowie manager Gary Kendall doesn't expect that to continue when Hays returns to the active roster.

"A lot of it was because he was pressing, wanting to do a lot," Kendall said. "You know when you have the year he had last year and you have a bit of a slow start, you try to get three hits every time up. All he needs to do - because he puts a good swing on the ball - is treat each at-bat and get into that at-bat. Certainly he's at .224 but he squared some balls up that were caught and hit into some tough luck. He was making progress using the whole field which is another thing we'd like him to do. But I think he was just pressing so much.

"But this time off might have been great for him. He's been doing a lot of charting for us on the bench and he's involved. He wants to do those things. And I love having him around, I love the kid. Super kid."

More on Akin: When Baysox lefty Keegan Akin took the mound last night, he was the Eastern League leader in strikeouts, second in ERA and tied for second in wins. He went 8-5 with a 2.53 ERA through 14 starts, pitching to an ERA of 1.16 his previous five starts.

Then Akin struggled with his control so badly, he needed 82 pitches over the first three innings, during which he walked a career-high six batters. But Akin also pitched out of some jams and Akron hitters went just 1-for-13 against him as he gave up two runs over four innings.

Akin would have to leave the game after throwing two warmup pitches before the start of the top of the fifth with groin tightness. He'll get treatment and it's too soon to know yet whether he will be able to make his next start.

But Kendall was impressed that on a night when Akin was not nearly as good as they have seen him most of this year, he still held the opponent down.

"I appreciate how he battled through it because he didn't have anything really tonight," Kendall said. "He didn't have command of any pitch but he managed to get outs and keep the score in check. I was proud of him for that. When he left the game we had a one-run lead. When he had to make a pitch he did and I was pleased with that. He just didn't have good fastball command tonight. Never seen him miss that high."

Baysox pitching coach Kennie Steenstra has provided tutelage to Akin this year and he's allowed two earned runs or less 11 times his past 13 starts.

"He has a nice live fastball, throws low to mid 90s and has a nice ability to locate the ball down in the zone, but has also come up to get some swings and misses and foul balls with that pitch," Steenstra said. "His slider has come a long way this summer. His changeup has been kind of a work in progress. Last year at this time his changeup was probably better than his slider, but it's flipped around to where right now his slider is probably more comfortable for him. The plan now is try to get all three working at the same time and then you are pretty close to a finished product."

Baysox win: Bowie won last night's game 8-4 over Akron, ending a nine-game losing streak to the RubberDucks, a Cleveland Indians affiliate. Bowie is now 34-42. First baseman Aderlin Rodriguez hit a long three-run homer to left in the first inning. Catcher Audry Perez hit two solo homers for Bowie and he's homered five times over his past 10 games. Perez has eight homers on the year over 97 at-bats. He has six homers in 41 at-bats at home, where he is slugging .829.

Baysox third baseman Ryan Mountcastle is drawing more walks this year and has 14 in 45 games. Last season he had 17 in 127 games all year. Mountcastle, who is hitting .309 in 45 games, drew two more walks last night. His bat has been hot, although he went 0-for-2 last night. But over his past seven games, he is 14-for-26 (.538) and over his last 11 games he is batting .405 (17-for-42).

"I'm just staying within my approach lately," Mountcastle said. "I feel good and am seeing the ball well. Just trying to hit the ball hard. I try not to think too much when I'm struggling or doing well. I just try to play hard every day. It's a cruel sport and I know it can completely turn around in one game, but I just have to go out there and stay level-headed."

Kendall said Moutcastle has made some gains on defense at third base as well.

"I think he's getting better," Kendall said. "He's reading hops better and I think his arm is getting a little better. We're trying to get him to get rid of the ball faster. He made a couple of nice plays on some in-between hops recently. I see progress from a year ago, yeah."

Mountcastle made a couple of nice plays last night including one to end the game on a backhand stop along the line to get the final out.