Kevin Gorman: Kevin Gorman's Take 5: Return of Ke'Bryan Hayes would be boost for slumping Pirates

May 3—The Pittsburgh Pirates limped out of town Sunday after being swept by the St. Louis Cardinals to cap a homestand in which they lost four of five games, yet there was hope on the horizon.

This rollercoaster of a season, where we have watched the Pirates lose six straight, win 11 of the next 16 and then lose the last four, has existed almost entirely without star rookie third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes.

The Pirates have played 25 of their 27 games without Hayes, who injured his left wrist April 3 and aggravated the injury April 21. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said Hayes hit soft-toss Saturday and will accompany the club on its seven-day, six-game road trip that started Monday in San Diego.

And, boy, would his addition pump some life into manager Derek Shelton's Pirates.

"Anytime you're able to get your best player back, that would certainly be a boost, and with someone who is as well-rounded as Ke'Bryan, I mean, we'll all be very happy when he gets back," Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings said. "I know he's itching to get back, so I hope he can be healthy and come back sooner rather than later."

On Saturday, Cherington explained that Hayes' injury is more complex than previously realized, that he was dealing with discomfort in both his lower hand and wrist. The Pirates are bringing Hayes along with "conservative care," not wanting to risk losing him for another month.

"He's obviously really important," Cherington said of Hayes on his radio show Sunday afternoon. "As much as we want, nobody wants to be out there more than he does. I know he's champing at the bit, but we've got to do it right. ... We're talking about a part of the body that's really important for a hitter."

So after holding out hope that Hayes could rejoin the team during its last road trip, the Pirates aren't putting a timeline on his return. Just his presence is a positive, not only for Hayes but his teammates.

"I think any time you get a player of his caliber back, it's going to be a boost for us," Shelton said. "We'll just go day by day and see what it is, and I'm glad he's going with us, because he needs to be around the club."

1. Getting defensive: It goes without saying the Pirates will welcome Hayes back in a heartbeat. After only 26 major league games, it's abundantly clear he is their best player.

But second baseman Adam Frazier made it a point to compliment the job Phillip Evans and Erik Gonzalez have done at third base in Hayes' absence.

Evans filled in admirably before moving to left field, and Gonzalez is a terrific defender who caught a pop foul, lineout and three grounders Saturday night alone.

"I think we've been doing a pretty good job with Gonzalez over there, and Phil made some great plays, too," Frazier said Saturday night. "Ke'Bryan's a great player. He's definitely going to be a boost for our lineup. The guy can hit, play defense. I wouldn't discredit the guys that have been playing over there, because they've been playing a hell of a third base."

It's Hayes' bat the Pirates miss most.

"No doubt," Frazier said. "Anytime you get a player of that caliber, it's a boost to the lineup all the way around."

2. Two for No. 2: That's not a knock on Evans and Gonzalez, who have combined for seven doubles, six home runs and 21 RBIs in 25 games. Compare that to Hayes' spectacular September 2020: seven doubles, two triples, five homers and 11 RBIs.

The difference? Hayes hit .376 (32 for 85), while Evans and Gonzalez combined to bat .224 (38 for 169), with 19 hits apiece.

That's not good enough for the No. 2 spot in the batting order, which became apparent during the five-game homestand when they combined to go 1 for 16 with four walks in the first four games before Shelton shuffled his lineup Sunday.

Shelton slid Bryan Reynolds and Colin Moran up a spot in the batting order to "jumpstart" the offense. Moran drew a first-inning walk but went hitless, and Reynolds hit a double in the fifth inning. Cleanup hitter Todd Frazier went 0 for 3 with a walk.

It's unrealistic to expect Hayes to replicate his September statistics, especially with so much time away from swinging a bat, but you can look at Sunday's move in one of two ways.

Shelton isn't satisfied with the production out of the two-hole, so moving Reynolds and Moran up in the order allows Hayes to hit lower in the order to start. Or it was a temporary salve to stop the losing streak until Hayes is ready to return. Either way, the Pirates lineup should be better with Hayes than it is without him.

"Anytime you add a bat like that, it just lengthens out your lineup and you stick him in the two-hole and let him do what he does," Stallings said. "It just makes a lineup tough to face. He's our best player, so you need your best player out there to feel like you put your best team out there for sure."

3. Left out: Speaking of Reynolds, it's evident to see why the Pirates were reluctant to shift him from left field when Anthony Alford and Dustin Fowler were struggling in center.

It's not that Reynolds can't handle center — he made a nice diving catch of a line drive by Nolan Arenado in the seventh inning Saturday night — but replacing him in left has been an adventure.

Make that misadventure.

Evans reached over the fence to rob Akil Baddoo of a home run — the ball popped out of his glove for a double — against the Detroit Tigers on April 22 but had an error in left two days later.

Waiver claim Ka'ai Tom started three games in left over the weekend, and his misplays on Arenado bloops led to a pair of RBI doubles in the 7-3 loss Friday night. Tom was a Rule 5 pick by the Oakland A's, so the Pirates have to keep him on their major league roster or risk losing him to waivers.

Interesting enough, the Pirates passed on Baddoo. The No. 3 pick in the Rule 5 Draft, the 22-year-old Baddoo has slashed .325/.460/.750 with five homers and 11 RBIs — numbers similar to Hayes' first month — while playing 10 games in left, eight in center and three in right for the Tigers.

What's worse, as a former Minnesota Twins bench coach, Shelton had to have been familiar with Baddoo. The 2016 second-round pick was ranked the Twins' No. 13 prospect but missed the 2019 season with Tommy John surgery and didn't play last season.

Picking Baddoo instead of Jose Soriano, who also had Tommy John surgery, could have solved the Pirates' outfield problem. But that's easy to say in retrospect, harder to identify in Instructional League.

A quick fix would be to keep Reynolds in center, move Frazier from second base to left, Kevin Newman from short to second and Gonzalez from third to short. Shelton did just that in the ninth inning in the 9-6 loss to Kansas City on Wednesday — he said it was to keep Moran in the lineup, in hopes to have his bat available for a rally — but when Hayes returns, it might just be their best defense.

Then again, after Frazier's sensational backhand stab and jump-throw on Saturday, who could blame the Pirates for not wanting to move the two-time Gold Glove finalist from second base?

4. Cole in center?: Cherington was asked if the Cole Tucker experiment in center — he played a team-high 19 games there last season — is dead now that he has returned to shortstop and was assigned to start the season at Triple-A Indianapolis.

Cherington said the Pirates wanted Tucker to "get back into a routine defensively on the dirt" but left that door open.

"No. Again, anybody who is at the upper levels and has the ability to play in the big leagues — we certainly think Cole is one of those guys — I wouldn't rule out really anywhere on the field," Cherington said. "Probably not going to put him behind the plate, but he's a good athlete with good ability, and I wouldn't want to put any governor on what he's capable of doing at the Major League level. And ultimately, again, we'll balance the best that we can the needs of the team and the strengths of the individual."

The concern with Tucker is not his defense but rather his bat. In 93 major league games, Tucker is hitting .215/.260/.324 with 13 doubles, three triples, three homers and 21 RBIs. Between that and a thumb injury in spring training, the Pirates kept him in Bradenton to work on his swing patterns.

Tucker is better defensively than Tom, yet Cherington noted on his radio show that Tom drew four walks in his first two games, hit the ball hard Saturday with a sacrifice fly and a line drive to the warning track before going 0 for 3 on Sunday.

For Tom, it's less about the batting average (.143) than it is the on-base percentage (.417). Tucker should take note, given his OBP last season (.252) wasn't much higher than his BA (.220), even though he hit 31 points higher than Reynolds did.

5. Stockpile at short: The competition at shortstop, won by Newman in spring training, doesn't appear to be over.

The 6-foot, 185-pound Newman is barely batting his weight (.198), while Gonzalez has been great defensively and ranks second on the team in RBIs (14). But it goes well beyond the big leagues.

Cherington talked about spacing the position players in the minors, and he appeared to do so at shortstop with Tucker in Triple-A, Oneil Cruz at Double-A Altoona, Liover Peguero at High-A Greensboro and Rule 5 pick Claudio Finol at Low-A Bradenton.

"One is, you always want guys to be at a level where they're challenged, where it's not easy, but also where they're not going to dominate nor be overwhelmed," Cherington said. "You're trying to kind of find that sweet spot. You've also got to consider, how do you create as much opportunity as possible? So there's a spacing element to it as well and you balance that."

Then again, as in Tucker's case, it might have more to do with allowing a player time to work on something specific at a minor league level before promoting him.

"Of course, we've got to remind each other all the time that Opening Day gets a lot of attention and then the rosters are gonna change quickly after that, anyway," Cherington said. "So most important is that guys are playing and improving, and there's always a chance to move up."

The Pirates hope their best promotion is soon to come, when Hayes finally comes off the IL and provides a boost to a team desperately in need of its best player.

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .