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Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes
Entering the 2020 season one of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ biggest needs is third base. Enter top prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes.
While, yes, the team acquired Colin Moran in the Gerrit Cole trade prior to the start of the 2018 season and he has been their starting third baseman the past two seasons, his production is simply not good enough.
In these two seasons with the Bucs Moran owns just a 0.8 fWAR. League average is 1.0, so being worth an average of 0.4 fWAR per season is not good!
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Moran is a woeful defender at the hot corner having posted a -5.3 dWAR in 2018 and a -7.8 dWAR in 2019. This included being worth -8 defensive runs saved in 2018, and -13 DRS in 2019. Again, not good!
Furthermore, Moran could not make up for his defensive woes with his bat. Moran has slashed .277/.331/.419 with a below league average .319 wOBA and 98 wRC+ in his two seasons in Pittsburgh. His biggest issue has been a lack of power development (.142 ISO, 7.7% extra base hit rate).
With the struggles of Moran, the door is open for Hayes to seize the opportunity.
It was a bit of a surprise that Hayes did not earn a September call up in 2019, but with his production at the Triple-A level it was not completely shocking. In his taste of the pitching at the Triple-A level Hayes slashed .265/.336/.415. He owned a 9.0% walk rate, .329 wOBA, .150 ISO, a 9.8% extra base hit rate, and a 92 wRC+. His 30 doubles, however, were great to see.
Despite his offensive woes, Hayes continued to be a plus defender at third base. Hayes took home a minor league gold glove award for a second consecutive season, and would already be one of the best defensive third basemen in the Majors.
Even though the will start the 2020 season at Triple-A, it would be a surprise if Hayes is not with the Pirates sooner than later in 2020. If Hayes can improve offensively and/or Moran continues to struggle, he will be in Pittsburgh in a hurry in 2020.