Ke’Bryan Hayes and the Pirates were in St. Louis for what was supposed to be a four-game series to open the 2022 regular season, but the finale on Monday afternoon was scrapped with thunderstorms in the forecast.
It was, to say the least, an eventful stop in the Gateway City for the young third baseman.
“Thursday was a bit of a whirlwind for me,” Hayes told me on Monday morning in the visitor’s clubhouse, before the game was postponed. “All kinds of emotions and all that.”
MORE: 22 players we really want to stay healthy in 2022
Hayes and I had spoken for the first time on Wednesday, a workout day, after he’d finished his infield work and batting practice. I was planning to write a piece on Hayes at some point early this season, and I came away from our conversation very impressed. But the events of the few days that followed necessitated a follow-up conversation.
“Now,” he said with a big grin, “I’m back and grounded a lot more, just wanting to play baseball and wanting to get wins.”
Thursday morning started with news breaking of a deal between Hayes and the Pirates. Word spread through the clubhouse, players asking each other whether they had details. The only thing anyone seemed to know for sure was that nothing was would be announced that day, at least not before the game started.
The deal, reportedly for eight years and $70 million, represented the largest contract ever handed out by the Pirates. So, yeah, it caused a bit of interest in and out of the clubhouse. Long before the buzz had a chance to subside, the game started. Opening Day was here.
Hayes, hitting third in the Pittsburgh lineup, the all-important spot providing protection for Bryan Reynolds, struck out in his first at-bat as the Pirates went down 1-2-3. Dylan Carlson, leading off the bottom of the first for the Cardinals, looped a little Texas Leaguer into the never-never-land spot just out of Hayes’ reach in shallow left field; Hayes reached awkwardly but couldn’t catch the ball.
As Paul Goldschmidt was at the plate, Hayes took off his glove between pitches and could be seen flexing his left hand. Uh-oh. Pirates fans undoubtedly were having flashbacks to the start of the 2021 season, when Hayes left the second game of the season with a wrist injury, a problem that cost him a few months and hampered his entire season.
So when manager Derek Shelton and the trainer came out to look at Hayes, and when he came out of the came, it was — to borrow a quote from St. Louis native Yogi Berra — deja vu all over again for Pirates fans. Was it another wrist injury? That hardly seemed possible.
“I was just like, ‘Wow, how is this happening right now, with everything that’s going on?’” Hayes said. “But my parents, they always told me that everything happens for a reason, so I thought, ‘OK, just get through the treatment, get it back ready for Saturday. That’s what I did. … I was a little frustrated, definitely. I hadn’t played in a week-and-a-half, and then that in the first inning.”
MORE: Five MLB teams that will exceed over/under win projections in 2022
Turns out, it wasn’t a wrist injury. His left thumb had cramped up and, basically, wouldn’t release. If that would have happened while the Pirates were batting, he probably would have had time to work it loose. But on the field, delaying the game on Opening Day and out of an abundance of caution, the decision was made to remove him from the game.
“I went to the hot tub, put my arm in there for like five minutes, got it to relax,” Hayes said. “Came over here (he pointed to the couches in the clubhouse) and sat and watched the game for a little bit, then I grabbed my phone and let my parents know that I was alright, just a cramp.”
That was Thursday. Friday was a day off, and Hayes was back in the lineup Saturday. He singled in the first inning and roped a double in the third.
“It was a definite sigh of relief,” Shelton told me Monday. “A strange, a very strange injury with a cramp in your hand, to see him walk in the next day with a smile on his face and know he was OK, and then to watch him walk out there and hit a ball in the gap at about 110, yeah, that definitely put a smile on my face.”
The double Hayes hit had an exit velocity of 110.0 mph, the hardest-hit ball of the game, and it was a perfect example of why the Pirates are so high on Hayes. It wasn’t that he pulled the pitch from Miles Mikolas; he drove a 110.0 mph line drive the opposite way, into the gap in right-center.
Hayes was in the leadoff spot on Sunday and delivered two more hits, in a game the Pirates won 9-4. Four hits in two games is a good way to show the Opening Day “injury” really was just a flukey thing, and not a reason for concern.
“My main goal is to be available for 162 games this year. That’s my No. 1 goal,” Hayes said last Wednesday. “Obviously, we want to win games and stuff like that, but we know it could take some time. We’re very young. But we’re ready for the challenge.”
He’s made an impression.
“I really like him,” Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said. “He’s an impressive player for his age, especially the way he carries himself. It’s fun to watch someone who has the combination of skill and you can just tell has good character. The way he carries himself, he’s able to slow the game down at a very young age. It’s cool to watch.”
The character, that quality so obviously picked up by those on the opposing side, is another reason the Pirates wanted to keep Hayes around long-term.
“We’re seeing him open up a bit more, seeing his personality,” Shelton said. “Ke’s going to lead in his own way, the way he practices, the way he plays, but I definitely think we’re seeing the open side of Ke’Bryan, which is really cool to see.”
Hayes made his big league debut during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season; he was called up on Sept. 1 and batted .376 with a .442 on-base percentage, a 201 OPS+, five home runs and a 1.9 bWAR in just 24 games. He credits part of that smooth transition to the way veteran Pirates treated him when he was coming up through the minors.
MORE: The Sporting News’ must-follow MLB Twitter list for 2022
The Pirates picked Hayes — the son of former MLB third baseman Charlie Hayes — in the first round of the 2015 MLB Draft. They brought him to the ballpark to sign his deal that June and Starling Marte made a big impression that day, just by coming over and introducing himself after batting practice. And the first few springs Hayes was in the big league camp, with a locker right near Marte, Josh Bell and Colin Moran, it was the same feeling.
“From the get-go coming, they made me feel comfortable, didn’t feel like I had to walk on eggshells,” he said. “I could just be me and go out there and have fun.
“Just remembering how those guys treated me, I wanted to make the effort to do that, help those guys feel comfortable. I don’t really believe in hazing of the rookies. You want them to be as comfortable as they can and play to the best of their abilities so we can win games. When I was younger looking up, I just always thought that was backwards to me. I want those guys to feel as comfortable as they can. You want them to play their best. That helps everyone.”
This spring was a bit of a wakeup call for Hayes.
“In my mind, I still think I’m young,” he said, laughing. “I just turned 25, and then I get to spring training and I’m looking around, like, ‘He’s 22, he’s 23. He’s 21. Dang.’ I’ve got to kind of step into this veteran kind of role, help lead these guys and make them feel comfortable.”
So he spent the early part of the condensed spring shaking hands and introducing himself. It helped that he follows the affiliates in the Pittsburgh system on social media, so he was at least familiar with most of the youngsters in camp, even if they had yet to meet.
MORE: TSN’s predictions, picks for 2022 MLB season
The one youngster Pirates fans are eagerly waiting to see this year is Oneil Cruz, the 6-7 shortstop who had 12 homers and 18 stolen bases in 63 games for Double-A Altoona last year, then popped five homers with a .524 average in six Triple-A games and homered in his second game in the majors last October.
“That guy right there, from the very first time I saw him in spring training when he was 18, he was hitting balls off the curveball machine over the batter’s eye,” Hayes said. “For him, the sky’s the limit. To me, he’s one of those guys like (Juan) Soto, (Fernando) Tatis (Jr.). He has that in him. When he’s locked in, no one’s going to get him out. I’ve never seen someone hit the ball so hard so consistently.
“I never played with him in the minor leagues, but I got to spend a lot of time with him and Nick Gonzalez and those guys at the alt site in 2020. We have a lot of good talent coming. It’s going to be special here pretty soon and I can’t wait for it.”
And now that his eight-year contract extension is in place, Hayes knows he’ll be in Pittsburgh waiting to welcome them.
