Ke’Bryan Hayes has played over 4,600 innings at third base since his major-league debut in September 2020 and among the 11 players who have logged as many innings over that span, he leads them all with 62.4 defensive runs above average, according to FanGraphs.
Hayes won his first Gold Glove Award in 2023, beating out Nolan Arenado, who had won 10 straight and is second in defensive runs above average with 47.8. Hayes has also recorded a +9 fielding run value this season, according to Baseball Savant. It's the highest mark in Major League Baseball and is six runs ahead of Colorado's Ryan McMahon, who is second.
Hayes's defense has never held him back, though. It's been his health and his bat.
Hayes, 28, has the worst slugging percentage (.304) in Major League Baseball this season and ranks last among third basemen with at least 2,000 plate appearances since 2020. His .374 mark over that span is seventh-worst among all hitters.
This comes after Hayes slashed .376/.442/.682 with a 1.124 OPS in 2020 and averaged an extra-base hit every .165 at-bats, which remains a career high. In 24 games that season, he hit five home runs, two triples, and seven doubles, knocking in 11 runs. Injuries started to pile up, however.
A wrist injury forced him to miss almost two months at the beginning of the 2021 season. Back problems then flared up in 2022 and worsened in 2023. He was eventually shut down at the end of last season, missing the final 13 games of August and all of September.
Hayes' health hasn't been the problem this year. He's played 80 of 88 games and is still playing high-level defense while he figures things out at the plate.
“It's been good, for the most part, all year," Hayes told me during the Pirates' recent six-game homestand. "I've done a good job of keeping my symptoms down and being able to be available every day. That’s one of my main goals this year is to just stay available, not have to go on the IL. I mean, it hasn’t been perfect, but I've been able to be out there for my team. So, it's been huge for me.”
Hayes said he's worked with someone outside of the organization to get his body right, but didn't divulge details outside of saying: "Kinda with my alignment. It’s been feeling a lot better. So, just at the plate, I’ve been able to just not think about my body and mechanics. I’ve kind of just, well, really this past series, just thinking about getting a pitch to hit over the middle of the plate. Just feeling free and not having to worry about that.”
During the offseason, Hayes switched from a one-handed swing to a two-handed swing. He said it "has its pros and cons," but it has helped take stress off his back: "So, that's why I kind of made the transition.”
Hayes described his body as “wanting to go towards left field and it's making this drag (his swing path), which is causing me to be late.”
SWING ANALYTICS
Hayes’ 71 mph bat speed is barely below the major-league average of 72 mph and his five-degree attack angle is five degrees below the major-league average. While the MLB average for attacking the ball -- pulling it versus going the opposite way -- is two degrees to the pull side, Hayes is two degrees to the opposite field and his bat tilt during his swing path is 27 degrees versus the 32-degree average.
BASEBALL SAVANT
There are eight other players with the same five-degree attack angle, four of them favor the pull-side swing path. In addition, there are seven players with a lower attack angle. Of those hitters, three lean toward the pull side.
The low attack angle doesn’t mean a hitter will lack power. A good example is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He has an attack angle of two degrees, but makes up for his nearly flat swing with a two-degree pull-side swing path and a 76.3 mph swing, which ranks sixth in Major League Baseball. Oneil Cruz leads the major leagues at 78.6 mph.
Hayes doesn’t buy into analytics or the approach for bigger swings: “Whenever I was kind of performing at my best, I never really looked at it. It's more just an approach and hitting the ball hard. If you hit the ball hard, on a line, you're going to get the extra-base hits and home runs will come. I think, for me, it's always been figuring out how to get my contact point a little further out and stay behind the ball. Whenever I've done that, that's when I've hit the doubles and then the doubles turn into home runs. But as far as launch angle and all that stuff, I don't get too caught up in it just because I’ve always been a pretty level line drive hitter.”
The last time Hayes came close to producing extra-base hits at the rate of his debut was in 2023 with a .107 per at-bat rate. He finished with 15 home runs, 31 doubles, and seven triples. He was pulling the ball at a two-degree approach.
BASEBALL SAVANT
HE JUST WANTS TO PLAY ...
Jon Nunnally, former Pirates minor-league hitting coach with Class AA Altoona and current manager for the West Virginia Black Bears of the MLB Draft League, said Hayes cares about the game and “just wants to play.”
That desire is why Hayes called Nunnally in 2023 when he wasn't hitting and struggling with back problems. Nunnally drove to Pittsburgh during an off day in Altoona and worked with Hayes on his setup.
"We got him to slow it down. When he’s too fast, his back tenses up and he can’t get his feet right," Nunnally said, “We got him to slow it down, focus on the center of the batter’s eye and work to the left and right of it. You saw him get his timing and drive it out of the park and hit line drives.”
Nunnally was let go after that season for “philosophical differences," despite working with Hayes throughout spring training and sharing his knowledge with major-league hitting coach Andy Haines.
Nunnally said he doesn't regret working with Hayes in 2023: “I would do it again for that young man.”
REAPING REWARDS
Outside of finishing his swing with two hands, Hayes has tried other avenues to reduce stress on his back. He's been adjusting his stance to be lighter on his feet and improve balance. He's focused on loading on his right leg and keeping his front foot in motion to be ready to hit, and has adjusted how his right knee bends. He's used those elements to find the right swing path to focus on center field.
Hayes also visited a doctor on an off day in recent weeks for an adjustment, which helped from his upper back to his tailbone.
It's all paid off. Hayes slashed .301/.333/.373 in June with one home run, three doubles, and 12 RBIs in 83 at-bats. It's his first full month with an average over .300 since August 2023. He carries an 11-game hitting streak into the Pirates' nine-game road trip and has gone 16 for 40 (.400 average) with three doubles and 10 RBIs.
Just take a look at how he loads on his back leg here and keeps his front foot in motion during this two-run single against the Mets:
"I just tried to just slow it down even more once I got to two strikes and was able to put it in play," Hayes said.
Here are two more examples of him focusing on a centerfield approach:
"He got into a good routine and he still continues to do that every day to make sure that he's good to be out there," Don Kelly said. "He's done a fantastic job. It's a continued process of trying to figure out what he has to go through from a body standpoint, continuing to find ways to make sure he's in optimal posture for everything to be able to go out and do what he's doing. He's doing a great job with it."
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THE ASYLUM
Special report: Hayes beating both his back, bat
Ke’Bryan Hayes has played over 4,600 innings at third base since his major-league debut in September 2020 and among the 11 players who have logged as many innings over that span, he leads them all with 62.4 defensive runs above average, according to FanGraphs.
Hayes won his first Gold Glove Award in 2023, beating out Nolan Arenado, who had won 10 straight and is second in defensive runs above average with 47.8. Hayes has also recorded a +9 fielding run value this season, according to Baseball Savant. It's the highest mark in Major League Baseball and is six runs ahead of Colorado's Ryan McMahon, who is second.
Hayes's defense has never held him back, though. It's been his health and his bat.
Hayes, 28, has the worst slugging percentage (.304) in Major League Baseball this season and ranks last among third basemen with at least 2,000 plate appearances since 2020. His .374 mark over that span is seventh-worst among all hitters.
This comes after Hayes slashed .376/.442/.682 with a 1.124 OPS in 2020 and averaged an extra-base hit every .165 at-bats, which remains a career high. In 24 games that season, he hit five home runs, two triples, and seven doubles, knocking in 11 runs. Injuries started to pile up, however.
A wrist injury forced him to miss almost two months at the beginning of the 2021 season. Back problems then flared up in 2022 and worsened in 2023. He was eventually shut down at the end of last season, missing the final 13 games of August and all of September.
Hayes' health hasn't been the problem this year. He's played 80 of 88 games and is still playing high-level defense while he figures things out at the plate.
“It's been good, for the most part, all year," Hayes told me during the Pirates' recent six-game homestand. "I've done a good job of keeping my symptoms down and being able to be available every day. That’s one of my main goals this year is to just stay available, not have to go on the IL. I mean, it hasn’t been perfect, but I've been able to be out there for my team. So, it's been huge for me.”
Hayes said he's worked with someone outside of the organization to get his body right, but didn't divulge details outside of saying: "Kinda with my alignment. It’s been feeling a lot better. So, just at the plate, I’ve been able to just not think about my body and mechanics. I’ve kind of just, well, really this past series, just thinking about getting a pitch to hit over the middle of the plate. Just feeling free and not having to worry about that.”
During the offseason, Hayes switched from a one-handed swing to a two-handed swing. He said it "has its pros and cons," but it has helped take stress off his back: "So, that's why I kind of made the transition.”
Hayes described his body as “wanting to go towards left field and it's making this drag (his swing path), which is causing me to be late.”
SWING ANALYTICS
Hayes’ 71 mph bat speed is barely below the major-league average of 72 mph and his five-degree attack angle is five degrees below the major-league average. While the MLB average for attacking the ball -- pulling it versus going the opposite way -- is two degrees to the pull side, Hayes is two degrees to the opposite field and his bat tilt during his swing path is 27 degrees versus the 32-degree average.
BASEBALL SAVANT
There are eight other players with the same five-degree attack angle, four of them favor the pull-side swing path. In addition, there are seven players with a lower attack angle. Of those hitters, three lean toward the pull side.
The low attack angle doesn’t mean a hitter will lack power. A good example is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He has an attack angle of two degrees, but makes up for his nearly flat swing with a two-degree pull-side swing path and a 76.3 mph swing, which ranks sixth in Major League Baseball. Oneil Cruz leads the major leagues at 78.6 mph.
Hayes doesn’t buy into analytics or the approach for bigger swings: “Whenever I was kind of performing at my best, I never really looked at it. It's more just an approach and hitting the ball hard. If you hit the ball hard, on a line, you're going to get the extra-base hits and home runs will come. I think, for me, it's always been figuring out how to get my contact point a little further out and stay behind the ball. Whenever I've done that, that's when I've hit the doubles and then the doubles turn into home runs. But as far as launch angle and all that stuff, I don't get too caught up in it just because I’ve always been a pretty level line drive hitter.”
The last time Hayes came close to producing extra-base hits at the rate of his debut was in 2023 with a .107 per at-bat rate. He finished with 15 home runs, 31 doubles, and seven triples. He was pulling the ball at a two-degree approach.
BASEBALL SAVANT
HE JUST WANTS TO PLAY ...
Jon Nunnally, former Pirates minor-league hitting coach with Class AA Altoona and current manager for the West Virginia Black Bears of the MLB Draft League, said Hayes cares about the game and “just wants to play.”
That desire is why Hayes called Nunnally in 2023 when he wasn't hitting and struggling with back problems. Nunnally drove to Pittsburgh during an off day in Altoona and worked with Hayes on his setup.
"We got him to slow it down. When he’s too fast, his back tenses up and he can’t get his feet right," Nunnally said, “We got him to slow it down, focus on the center of the batter’s eye and work to the left and right of it. You saw him get his timing and drive it out of the park and hit line drives.”
Nunnally was let go after that season for “philosophical differences," despite working with Hayes throughout spring training and sharing his knowledge with major-league hitting coach Andy Haines.
Nunnally said he doesn't regret working with Hayes in 2023: “I would do it again for that young man.”
REAPING REWARDS
Outside of finishing his swing with two hands, Hayes has tried other avenues to reduce stress on his back. He's been adjusting his stance to be lighter on his feet and improve balance. He's focused on loading on his right leg and keeping his front foot in motion to be ready to hit, and has adjusted how his right knee bends. He's used those elements to find the right swing path to focus on center field.
Hayes also visited a doctor on an off day in recent weeks for an adjustment, which helped from his upper back to his tailbone.
It's all paid off. Hayes slashed .301/.333/.373 in June with one home run, three doubles, and 12 RBIs in 83 at-bats. It's his first full month with an average over .300 since August 2023. He carries an 11-game hitting streak into the Pirates' nine-game road trip and has gone 16 for 40 (.400 average) with three doubles and 10 RBIs.
Just take a look at how he loads on his back leg here and keeps his front foot in motion during this two-run single against the Mets:
"I just tried to just slow it down even more once I got to two strikes and was able to put it in play," Hayes said.
Here are two more examples of him focusing on a centerfield approach:
"He got into a good routine and he still continues to do that every day to make sure that he's good to be out there," Don Kelly said. "He's done a fantastic job. It's a continued process of trying to figure out what he has to go through from a body standpoint, continuing to find ways to make sure he's in optimal posture for everything to be able to go out and do what he's doing. He's doing a great job with it."
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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