Ke'Bryan Hayes waking up offensively with Reds is classic Pirates luck

It's been nearly a month since the Pittsburgh Pirates traded gold glove third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes to the Cincinnati Reds in a salary dump that was supposed to rid them of the dead weight on their batting order.

Frankly, it was rather shocking that the Reds were willing to take on the entirety of the long-term contract Hayes signed back in 2022, a deal that will ultimately pay him a minimum of $36 million through 2030 (and potentially more).

The contract itself doesn't break the bank – don't let the depressing fact that it was the largest contract in Pirates franchise history at the time it was signed fool you – but it's an admittedly hefty financial commitment to make to a glove-only, no-bat defender.

But much to the delight of Reds fans – and to the chagrin of Pirates fans – Hayes' bat has begun to show signs of life since he arrived in Cincinnati nearly a month ago. Because, of course it has.

Ke'Bryan Hayes waking up offensively with Reds is classic Pirates luck

It's an admittedly small sample size, Hayes is slashing .260/.333/.438 with two homers and six RBI through 23 games for the Reds. That's a notable improvement over his .236/.279/.290 slash line with two home runs in 100 games for the Pirates earlier this year, not to mention an improvement over his career slash line of .254/.308/.371.

Hayes has become noticeably more patient at the plate, with his chase rate dipping from 28.2% to a career-best 22.1%. His overall swing rate has hit a career-low of 41.0%, and his contact rate jumped to 85.3%, the highest of his career. Hayes has also sliced his strikeout rate in half, from 20.7% with Pittsburgh to 10.4% with Cincinnati.

Obviously, it's still too early to know whether the Reds "fixed" Hayes in just under a month. But in his brief time with his new team, he has shown steady improvement while the rest of the Cincinnati offense continues to struggle. If the Reds can get Hayes' offense up to anywhere near the league average while he continues to play Platinum Glove-level defense, the contract that the Pirates couldn't wait to get rid of may soon look like a tremendous steal.

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