How Alabama Baseball Approached Facing Former Crimson Tide OF Camden Hayslip vs. UAB

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— Camden Hayslip plays in the outfield and slugs baseballs for a UAB Blazers squad that's 13-4 in its first 17 contests this season. With dynamite in his bat, the senior hopes to put his powerful approach on full display. UAB's is not the only college uniform he has ever worn, though.

From 2022 until 2024, Hayslip was a member of the Alabama Crimson Tide. On Tuesday night, for the first time, he faced off against his former team. He drew a four-pitch walk and struck out twice, but at no point did the visiting team want to see what would happen if he got ahold of one.

"Camden Hayslip's an unbelievable young man," second-year Alabama coach Rob Vaughn said after Alabama's 6-3 win over the Blazers at Regions Field. "He's terrifying when he steps in the box. I've seen him hit a whole lot of homers at our place."

In the fall preceding Vaughn's first season last spring, Hayslip absolutely tore the cover off several baseballs, and was the designated hitter on Opening Day. If there is such a good time to get hurt, however, Hayslip's timing was not that; he had jammed his finger on a slide in a scrimmage days before that game and ended up only appearing in seven games for the season.

With Kade Snell, the Crimson Tide's current left fielder, slotted at the designated hitter spot as a two-way player for much of 2024, Hayslip's at-bats were extremely limited. On Tuesday, his at-bats against right-handed pitching were limited: The lefty took just one, against starter JT Blackwood.

"I can't say enough about the human he is," Vaughn said. "We know how, maybe, to get him out, but you've still got to execute. If you don't, that ball's gonna go 600 feet. Fortunately, we were able to kinda control that a little bit, but that's a dangerous, dangerous hitter in the box."

For Hayslip's last at-bat Tuesday, Vaughn could have gone with hard-throwing sophomore lefty Matthew Heiberger to try and retire him. However, Hayslip has seen Heiberger due to the brief overlap of their Alabama tenures. Newcomer Beau Bryans, a fellow southpaw in his first season at Alabama, came in to face him instead.

This was not on purpose, or at least not owing to that fact. The underlying goal was the same: keep whatever batted balls Hayslip connects on in the ballpark if he hits it at all. Bryans ultimately walked Hayslip, but the ball did not sail into downtown Birmingham beyond the right-field wall.

"Beau is such an uncomfortable at-bat for lefties," Vaughn said. "More than anything, if you want my honest opinion, I thought it would be harder for him to hit him out of the yard. You're looking at it, and the last thing I want to do is leave something flat over the plate, because I've seen a lot of balls go about 400 feet when he [Hayslip] does that."

Bryans got the win out of the deal, thanks in part to closer Carson Ozmer collecting another save. The No. 17 Crimson Tide contained arguably its most familiar foe, and got a win to move to 17-1 overall before league play.

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