After spectacular September debut, Pirates rookie Ke'Bryan Hayes still has 'a lot to prove'

With a spectacular September followed by an offseason that saw the Pittsburgh Pirates trade their biggest names, Ke’Bryan Hayes went from the club’s top prospect to the future of the franchise.

That’s a role the 24-year-old third baseman is eager to embrace.

After winning NL rookie of the month honors, finishing sixth in NL rookie of the year voting and being ranked a consensus top-15 prospect — ESPN (No. 6) and MLB Pipeline (9) have him in their top 10 — Hayes promises not to put any pressure on himself even though the baseball world is watching to see what he will do for an encore.

“I mean I’m not like the most vocal guy ever but I just feel like each day since I’ve been here in the minor leagues and stuff, like they’ve always told me, don’t change who you are, don’t change like what you do, just how you go about your business,” Hayes said Tuesday by video conference call from Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. “Lead by example, like how you do and whenever you do say stuff, just keep in mind, guys are watching. They respect you a lot.”

As much as the Pirates already anointed Hayes the starter at third base and are counting on him to be a cornerstone in their rebuild, general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton are careful not to place too much pressure on a player with 24 career games in the majors after it became burdensome for All-Stars Starling Marte and Josh Bell.

“I think Ke’Bryan is a key part of the foundation that we’re building, and we saw it last year with what he came up and did,” Shelton said. “By no stretch of the imagination are we going to put it on one player or probably one group of one, two or three players, but he’s definitely part of that foundation. And then, as we’ve talked about a lot, both Ben and I have talked about, we have to get better. We have to continue to get better, and I think he’s a piece to that.”

Hayes earned respect for batting .376/.442/.682 with seven doubles, two triples, five home runs and 11 RBIs and playing pristine defense last September. He expects those numbers to level out over a full 162-game season, especially given that he played against only AL Central and NL Central opponents last year.

“I mean I only played like three or four teams so I’ll get to play a bunch of teams across the league,” Hayes said. “I’m excited for that. And, yeah, I feel like I still have a lot to prove after only playing 20 games.”

So Hayes is focused on being purposeful in practice and consistent in his approach at the plate and in the field. He focuses not on the results, impressive as they were, but rather his feel for the game. Hayes said he doesn’t look at hard-hit rates, even though his 92.8 mph exit velocity ranked 19th in baseball among all players with at least 50 batted balls and ranked in the 94th percentile, according to FanGraphs.

“You know when you square up a ball, when it’s smoked,” Hayes said, with a shrug. “Whatever the numbers are, at the end of the day, that’s what they are. All I can really control is putting together good at-bats and trying to square the ball up. Whenever I’m on defense trying to make every play for my team. That’s really all I can control.”

Hayes hit the ball hard in the minors, too, except for many of them were ground balls. So he made adjustments, moving his hands out over his body and lowering them to free up the load on his swing. That allowed him to get his back side into the ball and hit for more power. Luck also played a part, as 19 of his 21 line drives fell for hits.

Shelton, for one, is impressed with how much of a natural Hayes is. Shelton noted that in Hayes’ streak of seven consecutive hits over the final three games at Cleveland, including four extra-base hits, none of the balls was pulled. By not trying to do too much, Hayes did more than anyone could have ever imagined in his first month in the majors.

“You could deem him old school. I think he’s a baseball player,” Shelton said. “When you have guys that have the feel or the internal clock that he has, he knows. He doesn’t need something else to tell him that, and that’s fine. The guys that have that, you can have conversations about what you see and how they’re doing it but they know.

“I think the one really special thing — well, there’s lots of special things about Key — but the one that really stands out is the fact that his awareness is really good. He’s a really good self-evaluator. That’s something that a lot of players have to learn at the major league level. I’m sure if you guys talk to him, he’s very aware. Things are going well, he’ll tell you. When things are not going well, he’ll tell you. He has that clock that does that. Where some guys need help with information, he really doesn’t because he’s very honest with himself.”

That’s why Shelton is counting on consistency from Hayes this season. It’s become his trademark trait, one the Pirates want to build upon.

“No, I don’t think he’ll change,” Shelton said. “I think he’ll probably play 15 years in the big leagues and never change. That’s who he is. He’s the same person every day. He was the same person every day when he came to the park last year, and expect that to kind of go forward.”