Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Three hits, triple in loss
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Hayes went 3-for-5 with a triple and a run scored in Wednesday's loss to the Athletics.
Hayes now leads the league with five triples on the season. He's been on fire at the plate following a sluggish start to the year -- he's hit safely in seven straight games, going 14-for-28 (.500) with a double, two triples and two home runs in that span. Hayes' hot streak has boosted his slash line to .250/.295/.404. He has four homers, 24 RBI, 30 runs scored and six stolen bases across 244 plate appearances this season.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Goes yard again Saturday
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Hayes went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Saturday's 4-3 win over the Cardinals.
He got the Pirates on the board in the fifth inning by taking Jordan Montgomery deep, marking the first time in Hayes' career he's homered in back-to-back games. The 26-year-old third baseman has only four homers on the season and just 22 in 311 career big-league games despite athleticism that made him a first-round pick in 2015, but it is possible his power is beginning to emerge -- his 13.0 degree launch angle, 39.8 percent flyball rate and 92nd percentile average exit velocity are all career highs, pointing to a player who is making a concerted effort to reach the seats more often.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Swats third homer
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Hayes went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and four RBI in Friday's 7-5 win over the Cardinals.
The third baseman had the big blow in a six-run seventh inning for the Pirates, clubbing a three-run shot off Giovanny Gallegos on a first-pitch hanging slider. Hayes has five hits and six RBI over the last two games, but offensive highlights have been few and far between for him in 2023 -- he's slashing .231/.281/.375 with three homers, six steals, 23 RBI and 27 runs in 54 contests.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Snaps hitless streak
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Hayes went 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBI on Wednesday against the Giants.
Hayes delivered a two-RBI triple in the third inning to snap a three-game hitless streak. Even with the productive day, he's struggled mightily across his last 15 starts by hitting only .175 with a 26.6 percent strikeout rate. He's salvaged his line in that span by driving in 10 and scoring five runs. Nevertheless, Hayes has gone from the Pirates' primary leadoff hitter to regularly batting fifth or sixth.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Idle for series opener
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Hayes is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Giants.
Rodolfo Castro will step in at third base in place of Hayes, who looks to be receiving a routine maintenance day. Hayes had started in 19 consecutive games dating back to May 6 but hit just .213 with six extra-base hits and three stolen bases during that span.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Goes yard in win
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Hayes went 1-for-5 with a solo home run in Friday's 11-6 win over the Mariners.
He had one of the Pirates' seven homers in the contest, but Hayes' was his first since April 15, a span of 34 games without a long ball. The third baseman has long underwhelmed with his power at the hot corner, but two homers in 49 contests is tough to justify on many fantasy rosters. Hayes is slashing .231/.287/.360 with 17 RBI, 26 runs scored and six stolen bases through 202 plate appearances. There's not much momentum here -- he has just four hits across his last six games, though three of them have gone for extra bases.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Drops in order
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Hayes went 3-for-5 with two doubles, three RBI and a run scored Friday against the Diamondbacks.
Hayes hit fifth in the order against right-handed pitching for the third consecutive game, though he responded with his third multi-RBI game of the season. Even after collecting two doubles, he's slugging just .309 since the beginning of May, spanning 15 games and 55 at-bats. As has been the case for much of his big-league career, most of Hayes' fantasy value comes from scoring runs and stealing bases.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Swipes two bases
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Hayes went 2-for-4 with a run scored and two steals in Sunday's 10-1 loss against Toronto.
Hayes picked up his first stolen base since April 18 after drawing a walk in the first inning before swiping a second bag in the sixth. The 26-year-old third baseman has gone 4-for-8 in his last two games following a 5-for-27 stretch. Hayes is now slashing .242/.300/.359 with a homer, 9 RBI, 20 runs scored and five stolen bases in eight attempts. While his offensive production has been modest thus far, Hayes' strikeout rate is down to 12.1 percent from 21.8 percent last season, giving some reason for optimism.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Gets day off Friday
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Hayes isn't in the Pirates' lineup for Friday's game against Toronto.
Hayes holds just a .490 OPS over the past week, so he'll get a day off Friday to regroup. Rodolfo Castro will move to third base in Hayes' absence, allowing Tucupita Marcano to start at shortstop and bat eighth.
Hayes is not in the lineup Thursday afternoon against the Dodgers, Kevin Gorman of TribLive.com reports.
It's a routine day off for Hayes as the Pirates wrap up this three-game series versus Los Angeles. Drew Maggi will play third base and bat eighth. Tucupita Marcano is hitting leadoff.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Hitting for extra bases
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Hayes went 2-for-5 with a double, two RBI and a run scored Tuesday against the Dodgers.
Hayes came to bat with runners on first and second in the second frame, and he ripped a double down the third-base line to drive in both. He now has five multi-hit efforts in his last 10 starts, during which he's hitting .333 with six RBI and 10 runs scored. Though Hayes has only one homer on the campaign, he has a .151 ISO through 101 plate appearances -- a 50-point increase over the 2022 season.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Sleeper hitters for Week 5 (April 24-30)
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Ke'Bryan Hayes, like the rest of the Pirates lineup, caught fire over the past week, but the difference for him is that the data suggested it was a long time coming. He's hitting the ball as hard as ever and elevating unlike ever before, and if it continues this week against pitchers like Noah Syndergaard, Chad Kuhl, Patrick Crobin, Josiah Gray, he may never look back.
I've always been a believer in Hayes' skill set, and while the overall numbers don't necessarily show it, he might be making the exact kind of changes needed to figure it out this season. He's starting to heat up, with six hits in his past four games, and the overall skills-based metrics are starting to look awfully impressive; he ranks in the 75th percentile or better in average exit velocity, hard-hit rate, and expected batting average right now, while also sporting by far the best expected slugging percentage and expected wOBA of his career as a result. Hayes has always hit the ball hard, but too often, right into the ground; this season, his average launch angle is up from 5.2 degrees to 14.3, while his groundball rate is down from 49.6% to 45.6%. He's still not maximizing his raw power just yet – he doesn't pull the ball nearly often enough for that – but he's showing signs of figuring it out, and at least in the long run, I'd rather gamble on his upside than Wisdom's.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Drives in three runs
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Hayes went 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored in Monday's 14-3 win over the Rockies.
Hayes knocked RBI singles in the second and third frames before bringing home one more run with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly. He's posted three multi-hit performances over his last six games, hitting .349 (8-for-23) with a 4:2 BB:K during that stretch. On the year, Hayes is now slashing .206/.261/.349 with six extra-base hits and seven RBI.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Homers and steals base in win
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Hayes went 2-for-4 with a solo home run, a walk, two runs scored and a stolen base in Saturday's win over the Cardinals. He was also caught stealing once.
Hayes absolutely clobbered a Steven Matz pitch to center to start the game. The homer was the first of the season for the third baseman, and he also picked up his first stolen base of the young campaign as well. This is just the third multi-hit game of the season for Hayes as he came into this contest with just eight hits in his last 47 at-bats.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Getting day off Friday
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Hayes is not in the lineup Friday at St. Louis.
Hayes had a double, a walk and a run scored out of the leadoff spot Thursday versus Cardinals, but he's slashing just .157/.204/.235 through 54 total plate appearances this season. Rodolfo Castro will start at third base and bat sixth for the visiting Pirates on Friday.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Steals first base of season in win
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Hayes went 2-for-4 with a double while scoring a run and stealing a base in Tuesday's win over the Astros.
It's the first steal of the season for Hayes. The third baseman also had his second multi-hit effort of the season, and it helps break an 0-for-11 skid over his last three games. With the pair of hits, Hayes is now slashing .159/.178/.227 over 44 at-bats.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Batting sixth in PIT opener
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Hayes is batting sixth in the Pirates' season opener Thursday at Cincinnati.
It's not an ideal lineup spot for what Hayes brings to the table in fantasy, though he could move up quickly if he shows improved power and OBP skills out of the gate. The 26-year-old third baseman posted a highly underwhelming .244/.314/.345 slash line with seven home runs (and 20 stolen bases) over 136 games for Pittsburgh in 2022.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Showing some power
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Hayes has three extra-base hits -- including two home runs -- across 13 at-bats in Grapefruit League action.
Hayes was briefly sidelined in early March due to a thumb injury, though he returned to the lineup Saturday and hit his second home run of the spring. He also chipped in a triple March 4 and is slugging .846 during spring training. While that number clearly won't carry forward into the regular season, it's possible that Hayes could add some more power production to his profile heading into his age-26 campaign.
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Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes: Good to go
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Hayes (thumb) will lead off and play third base Saturday against the Yankees.
Hayes had been held out of game action since Thursday while dealing with thumb soreness, but the injury never appeared to be a major one. He'd been able to hit in the cage despite the injury and should have plenty of time to get up to full speed by Opening Day.
