Austin Hays takes a big step in his kidney infection recovery: ‘I feel strong again’

NEW YORK — Austin Hays took a big step in his recovery from a kidney infection on Thursday afternoon. The outfielder did a full workout before the game between the Phillies and Mets. He ran the bases with cleats on, threw to the bases, and took batting practice.

Hays, who has been on the injured list since Sept. 2, came out of the workout feeling “really good.” He said he ran at 90% effort and didn’t feel the fatigue he’d felt in his legs earlier this month.

“I feel strong again,” Hays said. “I feel fast. I feel like myself. Today was the first time we put it all together: Touching the bags, rounding the bases, slowing down, stopping. Everything felt really good.

“I took BP and it felt like the ball was jumping off my bat. Feel really strong. My arm feels great. All of that swelling and fatigue I had, and muscle soreness, I don’t really feel any of that right now.”

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It’s been a tough season for Hays. He was not an everyday player with the Orioles, so when he was traded to the Phillies, who intended to give him more playing time, he saw an opportunity. But his kidney infection, and a left hamstring strain that he suffered in August, didn’t give him the chance to make the most of it.

“I wasn’t playing every day this year, and then I was playing every day here,” Hays said. “I was getting the opportunity here, playing really well, and this [kidney infection] kind of came out of nowhere. It came on slow. I think it was affecting my body a lot. And then it just got to the point where I couldn’t do anything.

“So, it’s really, really frustrating, because there’s nothing you can do to make yourself get better. It’s not, ‘Hey, this happened because you didn’t do enough strength work or stretching.’ It wasn’t a baseball injury. It was just a random thing that happened most likely from eating some food that was contaminated.

“When you have baseball injury on the field — you can say, that’s what I think caused it, and here’s how you can fix it,” Hays added. “This, it was, well it happened and now I’ve just got to wait for my body to come back.”

Hays doesn’t think he’ll be waiting much longer. He met with the training staff after his workout and is in the process of mapping out a plan for the rest of this Mets series.

He’s grateful for the support he’s gotten from both the training staff and his teammates. Hays mentioned Kyle Schwarber as someone who has been particularly helpful. In late August, just before the Phillies left for Toronto, Hays told Schwarber about his symptoms. Schwarber passed it along to the training staff.

At that point, it wasn’t clear what was ailing Hays, but he said Schwarber’s push helped him figure out that it was a kidney infection.

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“He told them, ‘Hey — I think something else is going on here,’” Hays said. “It’s good to have guys like that around you who are looking out for you. It shows how good of a leader he is, how good of a teammate he is. Not just baseball, but as a person. It could’ve been very serious if I hadn’t addressed it. He was there when I was really going through it, before we figured out what it was.”

Andrew Painter threw another batting practice session on Tuesday. He threw around 25 pitches, hitting mid- to upper-90s velocity as he returns following Tommy John elbow surgery. So far, Painter has sustained his velocity throughout his sessions and recovered well from them, the Phillies said. His next step will be to face hitters on Monday.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson said there still isn’t a firm plan that Painter, 21, will follow in the offseason.

“We’re just waiting to see how he comes out of it, how he progresses,” Thomson said. “I know there’s a report out there that he’s going to the fall league — that’s not set in stone.”

The Phillies will continue their series against the Mets on Friday (7:10 p.m., Apple TV+). Lefty Cristopher Sánchez (10-9, 3.24 ERA) will start opposite Mets lefty David Peterson (9-2, 2.85).