Ke’Bryan Hayes’ season started with a bang as he hit a home run on Opening Day to commemorate the launch of MLbbro.com. Not really, but that would have been something. He did become just the second Pirates rookie to homer on Opening Day, joining Johnny Ray who did it in 1982.
The baseball world anxiously anticipated seeing Hayes, who tore it up, hitting .367 with 6 homers in 90 at-bats during the COVID season, carry the Black and Yellow on his talented back in 2021.
The Son of Charlie is the only thing worth watching in Pittsburgh as the Pirates attempt to rebuild.
The town was in a frenzy when he set off the season with fireworks. Then went into a total funk just as quickly, when the young third baseman suffered a wrist injury and had to leave the game.
That was 17 games ago and the 9-10 Pirates have actually done a decent job treading water in his absence. The team’s success has heightened the enthusiasm around Bryant’s return even more. Pittsburgh is a franchise that some could say is cursed in many ways. Hard to argue that. But they’ve been able to accumulate some solid talent in the minors that they hope will pay dividends in the future.
The Pirates don’t suck, but I wouldn’t say that they are on a streak of good luck either because just as soon as Hayes was supposed to return, the 24-year-old reaggravated his wrist injury when taking swings as part of his rehab work. He’s headed back to Pittsburgh to have the injury re-evaluated.
This means that Hayes won’t return anytime soon and that’s a bummer for Pittsburgh who was actually overachieving so far this season and needed their best player to return now.
Ke’Bryan Hayes is still one to watch. It’s just that right now, everyone is watching the progress of his wrist rather than the power he generates with the flick of them.
Just 12 innings into his 2021 season, rookie sensation Ke’Bryan Hayes finds himself on the 10-day injured list.
Hayes is the third prominent Black Knight to be sidelined with an injury early in the season. Rookie of The Year Kyle Lewis is resting a deep bone bruise and Toronto Blue Jays outfielder George Springer has a left oblique strain. Both are yet to take the field.
Hayes left Saturday’s game against the Chicago Cubs in the third inning with soreness in his left wrist. X-rays were negative, but an MRI revealed some inflammation, causing the Pittsburgh Pirates to place their prized prospect on the shelf for the time being.
Ke’Bryan Hayes’ injury to his left wrist is worse than it first appeared, and the #Pirates have placed him on the 10-day injured list. https://t.co/2e7RTay5D4
It appeared that Hayes first injured the wrist while drawing a walk during his first at-bat, facing the Cubs’ Jake Arietta. After fouling off a pitch, Hayes flexed his wrist before eventually drawing a walk.
“From talking to him when he was out at first, he caught the knob on the swing when he turned it over,” manage Derek Shelton said. “I guess the knob kinda got in his hand awkwardly.”
While on first, a pickoff attempt seemed to aggravate the injury more, but Hayes would come around to score the Pirates’ only run in a 1-5 loss.
Team doctors examined him again and decided to pull him in the third inning.
It’s a huge blow for the Pirates, who are in desperate need of the type of offense that Hayes provides.
Last season, Pittsburgh finished dead last in the National League in runs scored (219) and runs batted in (210).
In only 24 games, Hayes accounted for 15 percent of the team’s runs, and was responsible for five of the Pirates’ 20 homeruns.
It was his ability to hit to all fields with power, Gold Glove-level defense, and his baserunning instincts that had him atop many lists as the favorite for NL Rookie of the Year.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES:
Despite playing in just 24 games in 2020, Ke'Bryan Hayes led all rookies with 1.9 WAR per @baseball_ref. He had a 55.4% hard-hit rate & 18.1% whiff rate — no qualified hitter had a HH% that high with a whiff% that low.
He flashed that on opening day, with his two-run homer that put the first runs on the Pittsburgh ledger for 2021.
The Pirates first home run of the year comes from rookie of the year candidate Ke'Bryan Hayes. The 2 run blast gave the Bucs an early lead on the Cubs in the 1st. pic.twitter.com/ryCNmVsI4t
— AT&T SportsNet™ PIT (@ATTSportsNetPIT) April 1, 2021
His mere presence in the lineup makes the Pirates better. Once he left the field Saturday, Pittsburgh could only scratch out four more hits over seven scoreless innings. Sunday, they dropped their second in a row to the Cubs after managing three runs on seven hits.
While the organization doesn’t feel that this injury will have a lasting impact on Hayes this season, it’s taking a higher than normal level of precaution with the player it intends to build around, especially when the Pirates aren’t expected to challenge for a postseason spot.
Better to slow down the ascension of one of baseball’s brightest young stars now, than to have it halted by a nagging injury that could lead to others.
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