Pittsburgh Pirates: Ke’Bryan Hayes Ranked Top 10 At Position

The Pittsburgh Pirates have one of the top third base prospects in all of Major League Baseball.  Here is where he is ranked entering this season.

Every year it is always interesting to see how the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system matches up against other team’s systems.  However, another interesting thing to look at is where some of the top prospects are ranked compared to other notable ones at the same position.  This is something that the fantastic team at MLB Pipeline does every offseason.

Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis are two of the best prospect analysts.  They are known for making each team’s top 30 prospect list, Major League Baseball’s Top 100 Prospect list, as well as top 10 prospect lists at each position.   They already have released numerous lists this year, one that included Mitch Keller ranking fourth on the top right-handed prospect list.  They also have done the top 10 left-handed pitcher list, catcher list, and first base list.

Today, the guys at MLB Pipeline released their Top 10 Third Base Prospect List.  As many Pittsburgh Pirates fans know, one of the team’s top prospects is third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes.  He has established himself as Top 100 Prospect with a great showing last season.  Along with a strong year at the plate last year, he also has become one of the top-ranked third basemen defensively, winning a pair of Minor League Gold Gloves in the last two seasons.

So where does Hayes rank on MLB Pipeline’s 2019 Top 10 Third Baseman list?  The soon to be Triple-A third baseman ranks at number four overall.  This is pretty good considering that in front of him are Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Nick Senzel, two of the highest ranked prospects in baseball (Austin Riley rounds out the top three).  Mayo noted Hayes is the best fielder and possesses one of the best arms, saying:

“Hayes was the third baseman on this year’s All-Defense Prospect team, thanks to his outstanding range, hands, instincts and arm.”

Hayes will likely start the year in Triple-A Indianapolis after spending all of last season at Double-A Altoona.  Currently, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a platoon set up at third base with Colin Moran and Jung Ho Kang.  However, with questions about how Kang will respond after missing basically the last two years, Hayes very well could factor into the team this season.  If Kang comes out and performs the way he did pre-United States ban, then Hayes likely will spend the bulk of 2018 in Triple-A.

*For more on the top third baseman click here