Raise your hand if you knew that Ke’Bryan Hayes ever played a position other than third base in the major leagues.

Put your hand down, no you didn’t.

I didn’t know either, for what it’s worth, until I was working on a piece about Pirates infielding prospect Malcom Nuñez (shameless self plug). During writing that, I discovered that, for a brief time, Hayes had at one point been deployed as something other than a third baseman for Pittsburgh.

Hayes was a first round pick, 32nd overall, by the Pirates in the 2015 draft out of Concordia Lutheran High School in his native Tomball, TX. He turned pro later that season, making his professional debut with the GCL Pirates in the Gulf Coast League, a rookie league in Florida. He played third base and went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and a walk.

From there, Hayes would make every professional appearance at the hot corner, showcasing his glove work at third base and working on his approach at the plate.

No matter what rung of the minor league system Hayes played in, it was always at third base. Nowhere in his pro career anywhere but the majors did the 28-year-old take even an inning at another defensive position.

Hayes made his major league debut in September of 2020, starting 24 games for the Pirates in the Covid year that saw ballparks across the country empty. Hayes started every game that season at first base, and that trend would continue the following year as Hayes established himself as a full-time major leaguer.

In 2021, all 89 of his starts came at third base, and when he subbed in late in games, he also played there.

It wasn’t until 2022 when the Pirates, for a very brief time, even flirted with putting Hayes somewhere else during a ballgame.

Are you ready for some blast-from-the-past names?

On April 26th, Hayes took his first inning at anywhere on the field other than third base. In the top of the eighth inning, manager Derek Shelton made a flurry of defensive moves with his team down 10-5 to the Milwaukee Brewers at home. Diego Castillo had pinch hit for Kevin Newman in the seventh, drawing a walk.

Castillo stayed in the game to play second base, with Shelton moving Michael Chavis from second to third, and shifting Hayes from third to shortstop. Hayes had nothing sent to him in the eighth, with Pirates pitcher Beau Sulser notching back-to-back strikeouts and a flyout to center field.

In the ninth, however, Hayes recorded his first career putout as a shortstop, when Christian Yelich hit a groundout to Sulser, who threw it back to Hayes for the forceout at second base.

There’s even video footage of Hayes standing somewhere other than third, which frankly just looks so wrong.

You can see Hayes standing near second after Andrew McCutchen, who at that point was playing for the Brewers, successfully stole a base.

The Pirates would go on to lose 12-8; Hayes went 3-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a sacrifice fly. He certainly did his part, despite the loss.

The following day, the Pirates did a similar late-inning shuffle. In a much closer game, with the Bucs down 2-1, Shelton had Ben Gamel pinch hit for Jake Marisnick and Josh VanMeter pinch hit for Castillo as the Pirates tried to get anything going in the bottom of the eighth. It didn’t work, both men grounded out.

In the ninth, both players stayed in the game defensively. Gamel stayed in to play left field. VanMeter went to play second, moving Chavis to third again, and moving Hayes to short for another inning. Milwaukee’s Hunter Renfroe popped a ball up to Hayes at short for the first out of the ninth, but the Brewers would eventually score a run to make it a 3-1.

Hayes didn’t fair as well in this game. He went 0-for-2 with a strikeout and a groundball double play, but he also drew two walks.

The Pirates waited a week before using a late game shift again on May 4th, the first of a double-header. In another tight game that saw Pittsburgh down 3-2 in Detroit against the Tigers, Chavis was used as a pinch hitter for Jack Suwinski in the seventh.

In the bottom half of that inning, Chavis stayed in the game to play third, moving Hayes to shortstop, and Cole Tucker into right field. Hayes had nothing sent to him over the two innings at short, and he had a quiet day offensively as well. He was 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts.

Interestingly, Chavis was the key in over moving Ke off of the hot corner. The only time that Hayes was bumped to a different position on the field was to accommodate slotting Chavis in at third.

That May 4th loss in Detroit was the final time Hayes played anywhere else on the diamond. From that game onward, Hayes played in 111 games in 2022, all at third base.

He has since played every single major league inning at third, including winning a Gold Glove for his work there in 2023.

But lost in the misery and pain that were the 100-loss seasons are little tidbits like this. The Pirates were really doing anything at that time, moving players around anywhere as they shuffled through endless different lineups and slotted dozens of journeymen into games.

Hayes’ incredibly brief run as a shortstop is just one of many oddities stashed into that time frame.