With Ke'Bryan Hayes out, Pirates to give Hoy Park, Michael Chavis a chance to play third

When Ke’Bryan Hayes informed the Pittsburgh Pirates that he was feeling soreness in his left wrist, they took no chances risking the health of their starting third baseman.

Even though Hayes expressed his desire to play through the pain for the final five games of the season, a conversation with manager Derek Shelton late Wednesday afternoon prompted the Pirates to bring a premature end to his season by placing Hayes on the 10-day injured list.

“He kind of pushed and said he wanted to finish,” Shelton said, “but I think out of the abundance of caution, for five games it was the smart decision just to IL him.”

Shelton said the Pirates plan to use newcomers Hoy Park and Michael Chavis at third base in the remaining four games. Park started the first two games of the Chicago Cubs series, while Chavis switched from second base to third in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s 3-2 loss.

Park is batting .189 (23 for 122) with five doubles, two triples, three home runs and 13 RBIs in 41 games with the Pirates since being acquired from the New York Yankees in the trade for right-handed reliever Clay Holmes, while Chavis is batting .333 (9 for 27) with two doubles, a homer and three RBIs in eight games since coming to the Pirates from the Boston Red Sox in the trade for lefty reliever Austin Davis. Chavis was reinstated Tuesday from the 10-day IL after spraining his right elbow while attempting to make a diving catch in right field.

“It’s a place where we’ve played one guy a majority of the year when he’s healthy,” Shelton said, “so we’ll get a chance to look at the other two guys over there over the last (four) games.”

Shelton didn’t rule out Wilmer Difo, who has made a dozen starts at third base, as another candidate to play the position. But the three players the Pirates used most at third base in Hayes’ absence are no longer on their major league roster. Erik Gonzalez started 31 games, Phillip Evans 12 and Rodolfo Castro four, but all three finished the season with Triple-A Indianapolis.

For Hayes, 24, his rookie season ended much the same way it started. Hayes injured his left wrist in the second game, spending 60 days on the IL before returning to the Pirates on June 3. Once again, he’s sidelined by a left wrist injury, though Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said this one isn’t as serious as it was in the spring.

“In April, he was dealing more with pain and true discomfort,” Tomczyk said. “Here, this is more general wrist soreness.”

The Pirates lose their best defensive infielder — Hayes had three errors in 249 chances — and one of their top hitters. Batting second most of the season before moving to the leadoff spot Sept. 5, Hayes slashed .257/.316/.373 with 20 doubles, six home runs and 38 RBIs in 96 games.

Those numbers pale in comparison to Hayes’ spectacular September of 2020, when he had a .376/.442/.682 slash line with seven doubles, two triples, five home runs and 11 RBIs in 24 games to earn NL rookie of the month honors. Robbed of two months by the wrist injury, Hayes never emerged as the NL rookie of the year candidate as projected.

For the Pirates, the focus is on the future. Hayes is a big part of their plans, so keeping him as healthy as possible going into the offseason factored into their decision.

“As an organization, we want to put Key in the best position short- and long-term,” Tomczyk said. “I think we as a medical staff are being ultra-conservative at this time. He wants to continue to power through this. It’s important because he wants to finish and we want him to finish. So, if you want to point the finger at the bad guys, you can point it at the medical staff here because … we want him to go into the offseason as healthy as possible so he can continue to work on his trade and continue to evolve as the elite player that he is.”