Orioles trade Austin Hays to Phillies for reliever Seranthony Domínguez, outfielder Cristian Pache

BALTIMORE — The first domino has fallen.

In what’s been expected to be a busy trade deadline for the Orioles, the club made its first move Friday afternoon — an unconventional and surprising one.

Baltimore traded veteran left fielder Austin Hays — an All-Star in 2023 and a team leader since the rebuild — to the Philadelphia Phillies for right-handed reliever Seranthony Domínguez and outfielder Cristian Pache, the club announced.

Hays, 29, has seen his playing time in Baltimore diminish from a near-everyday player in previous seasons to a platoon role in 2024. He began the season slow, landed on the injured list and returned to find himself mostly starting against left-handed pitchers. The left fielder is hitting .255 with a .711 OPS this season. He is entering his final year of arbitration in 2025 before hitting free agency next offseason.

The Orioles are in the market for pitching help, but considering the organization has perhaps the best crop of minor league talent in baseball, trades by Baltimore were expected to include some of its top prospects. That’s still possible ahead of Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline as the Orioles need starting pitchers to bolster their rotation, but this trade featured a swap of major league talent between the MLB-best Phillies (64-38) and the American League-best Orioles (61-41).

Domínguez, one of the hardest-throwing pitchers in baseball with a high-90s mph fastball, has a 4.75 ERA this season. The Orioles could keep the 29-year-old next season if they accept his $8 million team option.

While his ERA is far from spectacular, his peripherals are much better and could explain why the Orioles have interest in the Dominican Republic native. His 26% strikeout rate is above average and now makes him one of the best swing-and-miss pitchers in Baltimore’s bullpen. In addition to his 97.5-mph four-seam fastball and sinker, he has a sharp slider that grades out as his best pitch. Opposing hitters are batting only .143 against it this season. He’s also been better recently, posting a 2.81 ERA and 1.01 WHIP with 28 strikeouts and nine walks over his past 25 2/3 innings after a rough April.

Domínguez, who debuted with the Phillies in 2018, has a career 3.55 ERA in 220 2/3 innings. He also has extensive playoff experience, posting a 1.13 ERA in 16 postseason innings with 25 strikeouts and only four walks.

Pache (pronounced PAH-chay) is mostly a center fielder and has a paltry .515 career OPS. The 25-year-old is under team control through 2027 but has no minor league options remaining. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Orioles designated right-handed pitcher Levi Stoudt for assignment.

A right-handed hitter with a career .242 batting average and .698 OPS against lefties, Pache could fill in for Hays, who was hitting .328 with an .894 OPS against southpaws this season. But Pache can reliably play center field while Hays is mostly a corner outfielder. That means, in addition to getting a bullpen piece in the trade, the Orioles’ lineups versus lefties could get an upgrade defensively but a downgrade offensively.

Pache, also a Dominican Republic native, could also serve as a defensive replacement and a pinch runner off the bench. He is a plus defender with 12 career defensive runs saved and four outs above average this year, according to Baseball Savant. Statcast rates his arm strength in the 91st percentile and his sprint speed in the 79th percentile.

Hays was drafted in 2016 and debuted in 2017 during the Orioles’ previous competitive window under manager Buck Showalter. Hays, along with outfielders Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander, survived the rebuild and emerged on the other side as key parts of a club that’s been one of the majors’ best over the past two calendar years.

But Hays’ increasing salary through arbitration, his diminished play this year and Baltimore’s youth movement with top prospects starting to fill out its roster made it likely this was his last year as an Oriole. This trade ended his tenure early.