Gold Glove in hand, Pirates 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes wants to show same consistency at plate
Now that Ke’Bryan Hayes finally has a Gold Glove, the Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman can turn his attention to other hardware. With the way Hayes finished last season, a Platinum Glove is a strong possibility and perhaps even a Silver Slugger is in his future.
Hayes, however, would prefer jewelry.
“It was awesome, that relief that I finally won one,” Hayes said Friday night at PiratesFest at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. “It’s been a big goal of mine to win one in the major leagues. I was fortunate enough to win some in the minor leagues, but I wanted to win one at the highest level. For me, it’s cool. Move on now. Just continue to do what I do. Now the goal’s to get into the playoffs.
“It would have been nice to win (a Platinum Glove), too. I’ll take the Gold Glove. I don’t really try to think too much on the individual stuff. More importantly, just want to win as a team. Really, after that, it was cool to represent my team, my family, organization. But now it’s, ‘I want to get into the playoffs, get into October baseball.’ ”
Hayes was voted the winner of the Roberto Clemente Award as the team MVP by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America after leading all qualified Pirates hitters in batting (.271) and triples (seven), tying for the team lead in doubles (31) and posting career bests in home runs (15) and RBIs (61).
Not only did Hayes end St. Louis Cardinals star Nolan Arenado’s National League reign of 10 consecutive Gold Gloves but also was named the Fielding Bible’s defensive player of the year after leading all MLB third baseman with 21 defensive runs saved and a .972 fielding percentage while committing only six errors.
Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen, a five-time All-Star and 2013 NL MVP, believes Hayes rewarded the faith the Pirates showed in signing him to an eight-year, $70 million contract in April 2022 by playing with more consistency over the course of a full season and is only tapping into his potential at the plate.
“Obviously you don’t sign somebody to the amount of money that he signed if you don’t have any trust or belief in something that they could be more of or more consistently. You just don’t do that,” McCutchen said. “He was always consistent with his glove. That was always there. The offense was up and down. He’s probably had to battle some things physically. But to see him do what he did for that spurt was something that people who knew him knew that was always there.
“It was nice to see him do that, nice to see him build that confidence and know that he can do it. For someone like Ke’, sometimes that’s all that takes. All that takes is him having that belief in himself than he can be that and do that, and then it’s just going out there and doing it. I see him continuing just to keep learning, and also I can see him being a perennial All-Star. He can be the next coming of Nolan Arenado, a guy who is constantly winning Gold Gloves (and) putting up good numbers. He can do that, too.”
Hayes batted .337 with 13 RBIs in June before missing all but one game in July with low back inflammation. Over the final two months, a healthy Hayes added a toe tap to his swing and hit with confidence, slashing .299/.335/.539 with 15 doubles, 10 homers and 29 RBIs.
He’s hoping that it’s an indicator of his offensive ability. There’s no question that his production was a sign of his maturity in building a better foundation as a hitter. Where Hayes used to tinker when he scuffled, he says he learned to identify the cause and work to correct it.
“I felt really good,” Hayes said. “I felt more free at the plate, more aggressive. I feel like I was able to go up there, be an athlete and just hit. It’s what I’ve always done, ever since I was little. I’ve always loved to hit. I just felt like I was back in that space, of being an athlete and being a ball player and not thinking too much up there. Ultimately, just being aggressive.”
