PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – When Pirates fans start discussing reasons to watch a young, inexperienced Pirates team this year. Most say, they will watch to see what Ke'Bryan Hayes does on a daily basis.
The 24-year-old gave them reason last season.
In his first game in Major League Baseball, Hayes homered, doubled and scored three runs against the Cubs. Hayes would have at least a hit in all but four of his 24 games. In the next-to-last game of the regular season, Hayes went 5-for-5 with three doubles against Cleveland. In 95 at bats, Hayes hit .376 with 17 runs scored and 14 extra base hits.
Oh, and we didn't mention that glove.
He would finish sixth in voting for NL Rookie of the year despite playing in nearly a third of the games.
Now come the expectations.
Hayes is at least one of the favorites. If not the favorite for NL Rookie of the Year in 2021 (he didn't have enough games to lose his rookie status).
"Where we have to temper expectations are externally," said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. "Everybody is going to come in and say he played 24 games and did this, this and this. We expect Ke'Bryan to come in every night have consistent at bats, play good defense and go from there."
That might be easier to say than execute. He's the player fans have their eyes on as a key piece of the team's new core.
"We don't expect him to be a world beater," Shelton said. "We just expect him to be himself. He's going to have ups. He's going to have downs. He came to the big leagues last year and didn't have a lot of downs. We are just looking for consistency."
It will be a year of growth for Hayes. If he can deal with the pressure this year, who knows what Charlie's kid might do?
