Ke'Bryan Hayes Named Pirates Best Modern 3B
One bad season can make it easy to forget how good third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes has been for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter ranked the best third basemen for every team in the last 25 years and picked Hayes for the Pirates. Reuter noted that it was a close race between Hayes, Pedro Álvarez, Aramis Ramirez and Hayes, but Hayes' defense and ability to string together back-to-back solid seasons proved to be the difference.
"Defensive standout Ke'Bryan Hayes is still looking for consistency at the plate, but he posted back-to-back 4-WAR seasons in 2022 and 2023 thanks to his glove work, and he finally snapped Nolan Arenado's Gold Glove streak when he won the award in 2023," Reuter writes."
Defense has been the calling card for Hayes, as he won the National League Gold Glove at third base in 2023 and has posted 75 defensive runs saved and 57 outs above average across his five seasons in the big leagues. Hayes also made strides as a hitter and had his best year at the plate in 2023, batting .271/.309/.453 with 15 home runs and 61 RBIs. Hayes had a 4.0 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and a career-high 4.4 WAR in 2022.
Injuries hampered Hayes in 2024, as he was limited to just 96 games due to multiple back inflammation, the last of which led to him being placed on the injured list on Aug. 19 and he didn't play for the rest of the season.
Ramirez and Álvarez had much higher upside at the plate, but still graded worse in terms of WAR. Ramirez had his best seasons with the Chicago Cubs after he was traded there by the Pirates in 2003 and Álvarez had four seasons where he hit over 20 home runs, but topped out at a 3.3 WAR in 2013 when he won the Silver Slugger and made the lone All-Star appearance of his career.
"It was tempting to go with Pedro Álvarez, who enjoyed a brief but memorable peak in Pittsburgh that included an NL-leading 36 home runs and a Silver Slugger in 2013. However, his value was limited outside of his power production and he totaled just 4.1 WAR in 742 games."
