MILWAUKEE — With the trade deadline now passed, the Pirates intend to finally promote third-base prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes, sources told the Post-Gazette on Monday.
Hayes, 23, has been working out at the Pirates’ satellite camp in Altoona. It’s likely, according to one source, that Hayes will be in the starting lineup whenever the Pirates host the Cubs on Tuesday at PNC Park. It will be Hayes’ MLB debut.
“There’s a lot to like about Ke’Bryan,” manager Derek Shelton said. “Number one, his heartbeat’s good. I think he likes the lights, and what I mean by that is he likes to play in big atmospheres. His ability to play third base, I think I said earlier, came as advertised, if not better.
“What really stood out to me was the aggressiveness of the swings, and it’s something that I think he took to working with [hitting coach] Rick [Eckstein] during spring training, and we saw it in spring training games.”
A first-round pick in 2015, Hayes hit .265/.336/.415 with Class AAA Indianapolis in 2019, with 10 home runs, 53 RBIs, 43 walks, 30 doubles and 12 stolen bases.
Ke’Bryan Hayes is the son of former major leaguer and Pirate Charlie Hayes, and defense has been the younger Hayes’ calling card. He has won three consecutive Gold Gloves in the minor leagues, while his fielding percentage of .989 in 2019 was the best for a third baseman at any level.
Over the past three years, Hayes committed just 17 errors in 331 games (872 chances).
The Pirates were likely waiting until after the deadline to promote Hayes to afford others playing time and allow them a chance to increase their trade value.
Now, the Pirates will have to manage a rotation at third base that will include Hayes and Erik Gonzalez more often than not.
Shelton on Monday was non-committal about how he might divvy up playing time moving forward. To be fair to Shelton, a good chunk of that might also be dictated by how well Hayes acclimates to major league life.
If he hits, he’ll play. If not, the Pirates likely need to use that time on someone else.
“It’s going to definitely impact it when he gets here, and it’s something that we’ll just have to work through on a daily basis,” Shelton said. “The fact that we have flexibility and guys to go to different spots, and now we’ve bumped [Adam] Frazier into the outfield at times ... we’ve seen [JT] Riddle into the outfield at times, so we have different functionality to move forward.
“It will be one of those things that we’ll just work day to day on how we’re going to do it.”
MLB Pipeline considers Hayes the Pirates’ second-best prospect behind 2020 first-rounder Nick Gonzales. Hayes ranks No. 45 overall, while Gonzales is No. 40. Oneil Cruz is the Pirates’ third top 100 prospect at No. 69.
Injury updates
The Pirates on Monday activated Colin Moran from the seven-day injured list and optioned Will Craig back to their satellite camp in Altoona.
Moran hasn’t played since Aug. 23, when he was involved in a collision at first base and later felt concussion-like symptoms.
“Yeah, he’s full-go,” Shelton said of Moran. “I think we’ll still monitor it just for the fact of, especially today, he’s going to play today, we have a late flight tonight. We’ll see how he’s feeling tomorrow, moving forward. But he’s back to full-go. He had two good days of workouts. I think he actually smiled twice today, so we’re way ahead of the game.”
Shelton also said that Keone Kela, who hasn’t pitched in a game since Aug. 21 because of right forearm inflammation, has played catch now twice back in Pittsburgh.
That does not mean that Kela’s return is imminent, but it is a good sign for someone the Pirates hoped would be their closer this season.
International interest
General manager Ben Cherington acquired $243,300 in international bonus pool money by sending Jarrod Dyson to the Chicago White Sox, the only trade the Pirates made before Monday’s deadline.
That was more than a random transaction, the GM said. Cherington and his staff are up against a deadline, as the money is for the 2019-20 signing period, which was extended through Oct. 15.
“Generally we would not pursue or acquire that space unless we had some reason to believe that we had a chance to use it effectively,” Cherington said. “But we believe there’s still talent out there.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: August 31, 2020, 7:50 p.m.
