'We're happy to have him back': Pirates rookie 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes returns from 2-month injury

When Ke’Bryan Hayes fouled off a 2-1 Jake Arrieta pitch up and in April 3, the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie third baseman felt a jolt between the ring finger and middle finger in his left hand that ran across his wrist.

The feeling was similar to something Hayes experienced near the end of the 2019 season, when he was playing for Triple-A Indianapolis. Hayes soon realized this one was more severe, though he had no idea it would keep him sidelined for the next two months.

“After I went back out on defense, I was still feeling it,” Hayes said. “Then I went back in the cage to try to swing, and I couldn’t even swing like 10% of my swings, so I knew something was kind of messed up.”

The injury reverberated throughout an organization that was counting on the 24-year-old Hayes to carry over his sizzling September and spring training and be their catalyst this season. Instead, Hayes was lost in the second game of the season and spent 60 days on the injured list.

Now, the Pirates are hoping that Hayes can provide a jolt to a club that missed his bat in the lineup, speed on the basepaths and dynamic defense. Hayes was activated Thursday after a rehab assignment, in time for a seven-game homestand that started with the Miami Marlins.

“We’re happy to have him back,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “It’s a long road when you have an injury like he did, and to go through the rehab and work very hard, but he’s an important part of what we’re doing. He’s an important part of our club, and he’s played one game with us, so it’s nice to have him back in the lineup.”

After spending the final month of the 60-game season last year playing in an empty stadium because of the covid-19 pandemic and missing the home opener with the injury, this is the first chance for Hayes to play in front of fans in Pittsburgh. His return coincides with the Pirates increasing capacity at PNC Park from 25% to 55% through June 23.

“It’s definitely exciting to be able to get back out there in front of the home crowd,” said Hayes, adding that his father, former Pirates third baseman and 14-year MLB veteran Charlie Hayes, came to Pittsburgh for the series. “My dad just got in today, so he’ll be here. It’s the first time he’s seen me play in the regular season since ’19, so it’s going to be real special to just be back out there in front of our fans.”

Shelton didn’t hesitate to put Hayes in the starting lineup at third base and No. 2 spot in the batting order, between Adam Frazier and Bryan Reynolds. Not only does it lengthen the lineup and deepen their bench but provides some stability, speed and pop to a team in desperate need of a boost after losing 11 of the past 14 games and 22 of 30 since reaching .500 on April 28.

By slashing .376/.442/.682 with seven doubles, two triples, five home runs and 11 RBIs in 24 games last September, Hayes created great expectations. Baseball America and MLB Pipeline named him the Pirates’ top prospect, with the latter ranking Hayes No. 9 in its top 100.

Hayes batted .431 with a 1.208 OPS in Grapefruit League play this spring, and showed what he meant to the Pirates on Opening Day, when he hit a two-run homer off Kyle Hendricks in his first at-bat during a 5-3 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

The hardest part for Hayes was waiting for the inflammation to heal and the pain to disappear. He aggravated the injury while taking swings in a batting cage April 21 at Detroit’s Comerica Park, a serious setback that caused Hayes to miss another 35 games.

“It was honestly pretty much the same exact swing off the machine,” Hayes said. “It was a pitch up. I fouled it off, and immediately felt the exact same as in the (April 3) game.”

The recurrence and aggravation of an injury from 2019 forced the Pirates medical team to change their strategy and to take a step back and learn from their hitting and strength and conditioning coaches. Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said the club is “optimistic that this specific injury to his left wrist will not happen again.”

The recovery process tested Hayes’ patience. So, on his rehab assignment for the Indianapolis Indians, he swung at the first pitch he saw for a single. In seven games, he went 6 for 24 (.250) with two doubles and two home runs and made spectacular plays look routine on defense, tagging one runner and throwing another out for a double play.

“There were some ups and downs,” Hayes said. “When I had to sit back, that was pretty tough. I just had to take it day by day, and whenever it was ready, it would be ready.”

Meanwhile, all Hayes could do during games was sit in the dugout and watch, paying attention to the minutiae of how the Pirates played defense, how pitchers attacked hitters and vice versa in the NL Central.

“Whenever you’re watching, whenever you’re there on the bench,” Hayes said, “you kind of see everything.”

Shelton was impressed with how Hayes was engaged in every game, sharing how the skipper used specific moments as teaching points only to find that the “baseball junkie” was thinking along the same lines.

“The one thing we have to remember is he’s a young kid still,” Shelton said. “He’s got a good baseball mind, but if we could use those moments to teach or talk to him about the game, we did do that. And one of the things I really appreciate about Key: He’s a man of few words, but he’s always locked in.”

Now, the Pirates are happy to have Hayes locked into their lineup while keeping their fingers crossed he can stay healthy.