The Pirates appear to have their next face of the franchise in Ke'bryan Hayes. 35 games into his career, Hayes joined The PM Team for his 93.7 The Fan debut.
Hayes looks poised to be a star in the league for years to come. Dating back to his debut last season, Hayes is hitting .352 with eight (nine if he touched first base) home runs with only one error.
"I just try to be aggressive early in the count because the guys up here, I feel like, throw a lot more strikes, and I just try to get the ball out over the plate and up in the zone and drive it."
Hayes seemed to prefer the increase in command from pitchers at the MLB level compared to the minor leagues, as the league cracks down on substances that may help with that command. When asked about it, Hayes mostly deflected and was not even sure of the name of Spider Tack, the main substance in question.
"I don't really have a side in it, I just try to go out and there and not even think about that type of stuff."
The son of a former major leaguer and youngest of three brothers, Hayes reminisced on growing up in a baseball household.
"We'd be outside all day hitting in the cage, shooting basketball, just competing and stuff like that."
Though they had access to the best facilities in Houston, Ke'Bryan, along with his older brother Tyree, refined their fielding skills by throwing baseballs against a brick wall of their house.
"Eventually, we had to stop because there was like windows right there and we probably broke those windows 4, 5, or 6 times. My mom eventually made us stop."
Ke'Bryan credited his older brother, who spent some time as a minor league pitcher, along with their father, for much of his success.
"Just growing up him and my older brother, by them playing at the professional level. They've always made me do things the right way."
While Ke'Bryan himself has flashed the leather in his short time as a Pirate, he conceded that it was his brother, Tyree, who was the best athlete and fielder of the bunch.
"He was the best athlete of all of us in the family... He was by far better than me, my dad combined as an infielder."