It was a great weekend for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
When your baseball team is bad, there aren’t a lot of good days to be had watching them. But every now and then, your team finds some magic, and for a few days, they are the best entertainment out there.
Sometimes it’s about your team catching lightning in a bottle. Others, it’s about catching a good team on a bad skid.
Maybe Pittsburgh’s stunning sweep of the New York Mets this weekend was a little bit of both.
The Pirates out scored the Mets 30-4 in their three game series, lighting them up every chance they got.
While pretty much everyone got in on the fun, one of the better storylines coming out of this series was the success of Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes.
The embattled batter had himself a heck of a series and is putting together a hot streak at the plate.
For Hayes, the defense has never been in question. A Gold Glove winner in 2023, Hayes has continued his excellence from third base. Fielding Bible has Hayes credited with ten defensive runs saved, ranking him 13th in all of baseball and atop the third base leaderboard.
However, Hayes also has one of the worst OPS figures among qualified players, at .602. Objectively, he’s been one of the worst offensive players in the leagues this year.
It’s hard to properly appreciate the defensive value of an everyday first baseman who has a sub-.600 OPS until this weekend.
Career wise, Hayes has a slash line of .246/.297/.305 over six years and 553 major league games. His 2023 season saw him hit .271 with a .762 OPS, but aside from a very brief rookie season in 2020, he has not found any consistency in the batter’s box.
However, in his last seven games, Hayes is 12-for-28 (.429) with an OPS north of 1.000. He has notched seven RBI over that time, including five during Pittsburgh’s sweep of the Meta over the weekend.
On Sunday, as the Pirates blew the doors off New York 12-1, Hayes went 3-for-5 with two doubles, bringing home a pair of runs.
This Mets series has really brought Hayes to life. He recorded multiple hits in every game, three extra-base hits, and only struck out once.
While the bat has really gotten hot recently, it follows a slightly larger pattern. Over his last 15 games, Hayes is 18-for-55 (.327) with a .787 OPS with one home run and 12 RBI.
The swing mechanics that Hayes had been working on from the start of the season seem to finally be paying off. He is seeing the ball incredibly well, and in a league that prioritizes power over everything, Hayes is finding his way to contribute even if he rarely pounds it over the fence.
Call it small ball. Call it Donnie Ball. Call it a miracle! But whatever you call it, it’s sure nice to see from a player who has frustrated many fans at the plate this season.
This run of success for the Tomball, Texas native comes as his name is circulating in trade talks. His eight-year, $70 million contract extension that he signed with the club at the beginning of the 2022 season has not worked out as well as the team had hoped, and now some reports suggest the team is looking for a way out of that deal.
For an organization like the Pirates, and the way they choose to operate, every dollar has to be maximized for the team to be successful. Though Hayes’ defense is certainly worth some money, it cannot alone make up for the lack of offense in Pittsburgh.
Similarly, at 28, Hayes pretty much is who he is. Even with this hot streak, banking on a career resurgence at the plate is not something the Pirates can afford to do.
On a deeper roster, Hayes’ poor bat is sheltered by players who can produce. Here in Pittsburgh, on a team that regularly struggles to score (unless you’re the Mets), Hayes is counted on to do more than he is capable of.
So, it makes sense that reporting suggests several teams are interested in acquiring Hayes. A man once seen as the cornerstone of the next winning wave of Pirates baseball could end up out the door after yet another lost season, now the second in the Paul Skenes era.
As the deadline looms, general manager Ben Cherington will have to make a decision on one of the few players his front office has actually committed to.
Knowing both Cherington and the Pirates’ luck, Hayes will actually turn into the decent hitter that the organization hoped he would be. This recent run would serve as the turning point in his career, and he would thrive in a new location.
But if, and that’s a very big if, the Pirates do decide to try and move on, does this hot streak by Hayes help bump the value up just a bit? Maybe it nets them someone a slot or two up on the prospect list of whoever they trade with.
On the other hand, does this run convince the Pirates to stick with him? How much stock could/should the Pirates into these last few games?
He will inevitably cool off eventually, but just about anything is better than what Hayes was doing at the start of the season. Could an even slightly improved Hayes be a major help for the team? It keeps his defense on the field, at least.
This hot streak comes at a really interesting, albeit depressing time for the franchise. They will sell at the deadline, it’s just a matter of how much. Hayes playing the way he is right now only adds another wild card to the end of July sale.
But for whatever happens, it’s refreshing to see Hayes play this way. Enjoy while it lasts!
Fifth Avenue Sports 
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