Pittsburgh Pirates: Rum Bunter’s Top 10 Prospects

1. Ke’Bryan Hayes

Yea, no big surprises here. Ke’Bryan Hayes was essentially our unanimous number one prospect. The only writer who didn’t vote Hayes number one was simply because he had already made it to the Majors. Hayes was a first-round selection by the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 2015 as a compensation pick after the Pirates offered a qualifying offer to Russell Martin, who was then signed by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Hayes made his presence known with his elite defense. However, he wasn’t a slouch with the bat either. He made this known in 2017, his first full MLB season, when he hit .278/.345/.363 with a .330 wOBA and 109 wRC+ in his 482 plate appearances at High-A. Following his solid showing at Bradenton, Hayes was moved to Double-A where he put up his best offensive season yet with a .293/.375/.444 line, 129 wRC+ and .369 wOBA.

Hayes did struggle at Triple-A in 2019, hitting just .265/.336/.415 with a 92 wRC+, however he did miss some time with an injury. Hayes hit just .245/.336/.398 in the first half, but .290/.337/.435 in the second half. In all three seasons, Hayes stole at least a dozen bases, with 27 in 2017.

You can’t talk about Hayes without talking about his defense. He might already be considered the best third base fielder in professional baseball. FanGraphs gives Hayes a 70 future fielding grade and 60 future arm grade. He’s one of seven prospects with a future fielding grade of at least 70 and future arm grade of at least 60. No third baseman has put up fielding grades like Hayes since Oakland A’s two-time Platinum Glove winner Matt Chapman, who already has the 6th most defensive runs saved at third base since the stat started to be recorded in 2003.

Hayes made his MLB debut last year and was outstanding hitting .376/.442/.682 with five home runs and a 195 wRC+ in just 95 plate appearances. His offensive explosion on the scene was capped off with a 5-5 performance and a 2-4 performance where at one point he either got a hit or reached via free pass seven straight plate appearances in a row. The Platinum Glove level fielding carried over to the major leagues as he had +4 DRS, 0.5 range runs above average and 0.5 UZR in only 198 innings at the hot corner.

Hayes ended the 2020 season with a future hit grade of 60, which was upgraded from 55 when the season started. Power wise, he only has a future 50 game and raw power grades. But there’s a lot more under the hood than meets the eye. Hayes’ had a 92 MPH average exit velo at Triple-A in 2019, and in 2020 put up an average exit velo of 92.8 MPH. He also made hard contact 55.4% of the time. Had he played enough to qualify last season, his exit velocity would have ranked 15th and his hard hit rate would have ranked 8th in all of baseball.