ALTOONA, Pa. -- Ke'Bryan Hayes wasn't born when his father snared Gary Carter's line drive down the third-base line to preserve Terry Mulholland's no-hitter in 1990. He wasn't even born when his father caught Mark Lemke's pop fly in foul territory to secure the Yankees' first World Series championship in 18 years in '96.
Charlie Hayes retired from baseball in 2001 when Ke'Bryan was just four years old, but the 21-year-old has seen all the videos and heard all the old stories. The former major leaguer was, and is, a huge influence on his youngest son. And a motivator.
"As a kid, I always wanted to be like him and one day play in the major leagues and be better than him," Ke'Bryan, a third baseman for Double-A Altoona and top prospect for the Pirates, told DKPittsburghSports.com.
That's a pretty tall order. His father played 1,400-plus major league games over 14 seasons, including part of 1996 with the Pirates. But the son does have one thing over his father: He was a first-round pick, selected 32nd overall by the Pirates in 2015 (Charlie was the Giants' fourth-rounder in 1983).
With his draft position and his pedigree — his older brother, Tyree, was a former minor-league pitcher — comes great expectation. But Ke'Bryan has lived up to them so far.
On Friday, he was chosen -- along with Indianapolis pitcher Mitch Keller -- to represent the Pirates at the All-Star Futures Game at Nationals Park in Washington. And with good reason.
Through 71 games for Altoona this season, Hayes is slashing .293/.361/.454 with a .814 OPS. He's also driven in 21 runs to go along with an Eastern League-high six triples. With a full offseason in the gym to help build up his strength — a broken rib interrupted his off-season workouts in 2017 — Hayes is hitting for more power. With four home runs, he's already exceeded his total from last season when he hit two in High-A:
Hayes got off to a bit of a slow start at the plate this season — hitting .234 with a.256 OBP in April — after making the jump from High-A Bradenton in the Florida State League to Altoona. But he turned things around in a hurry by hitting .333 with a .403 OBP in June. He's been even hotter in the first week of July, batting .391 (9-for-23) with a .417 OBP.
"I feel like the biggest difference from High-A to Double-A is that guys are able to move their fastball around," he says. "I think it’s just timing and pitch selection."
In his three-year pro career, Hayes has shown steady improvement at the plate. Curve manager Michael Ryan says the key this season has been Hayes' ability to handle off-speed pitches.
"We had some numbers on him last year where he was just taking breaking balls most of the time and wasn’t really offering anything," Ryan was telling me. "Breaking ball recognition has been big for him this year.
"All it took was one for him to hit it well and a belief that he could do it. He can hit the fastball really well. He’s becoming a complete player. Staying to the big part of the field and not trying to do too much."
Like his father, he's also a third baseman, though it didn't start out that way. He'd been playing the middle infield spots before his father/coach moved him to the hot corner at age 13. And like his father, he's also quite adept in the field.
Last season, Hayes won the Rawlings MiLB Gold Glove Award as the top defensive third baseman in the minors. He has a .969 fielding percentage with 45 putouts and 17 double plays turned this season. Hayes says his prowess in the field is a source of pride "just as much as the offensive side."
"Not every night you’re going to get two to three hits, you have to be able to take away," Hayes was telling me. "Me, personally, making an error is more embarrassing than striking out."
Ideally, Hayes will make the jump to Indianapolis at some point later this summer or next season. The goal, of course, is to get to Pittsburgh in the not-too-distant future. It's not hard to envision Hayes and Altoona teammate/shortstop Cole Tucker — Pittsburgh's first round pick in 2014 — forming the left side of the Pirates infield for, oh, a decade to come.
For now though, his plan is to face each challenge as it comes and get better. And hopefully, one day be better than his father.
"You think about being up there and trying to help the team win the World Series," Hayes was saying. "I'm just trying to do what I have to do to get up there."
MORE ALTOONA
• Outfielder Bryan Reynolds, acquired from the Giants in the Andrew McCutchen trade, has at least one hit in 20 of his last 24 games since June 8, batting .318 with seven doubles, one grand slam and 15 RBIs in that span. He has at least one RBI in nine of his last 17 games since June 20. The switch-hitter has slashed .272/.350/.384 in 34 games this season.
• Taylor Hearn, the left-handed starting pitcher acquired along with Felipe Vazquez two years ago, struck out seven and allowed one earned run in 6 1/3 innings against Trenton Friday night. Hearn, 23, has a 1.09 WHIP with 94 strikeouts — tied for the third-most in the Eastern League — and 33 walks in 86 innings over 16 starts this season.
• First baseman Will Craig, a first-round pick in 2016, drove in two more runs Saturday against Trenton, giving him a team-high 60 in 79 games this season. He's on pace to drive in 101 runs this season, which would rank second in franchise history behind Adam Hyzdu's 106 in 2000. Craig has batted just .211 with 11 strikeouts in his past 10 games. He's batting .248 with a .766 OPS.
• Shortstop Cole Tucker has 11 hits over his last 10 games, raising his season average to .248. Tucker, 22, has a .632 OPS and 20 stolen bases after stealing 47 between Altoona and High-A Bradenton last season. -- By Lance Lysowski
INDIANAPOLIS (AAA)
• Right-handed pitcher Tyler Eppler, a sixth-round draft pick in 2014, was added to the International League All-Star team after a number of players were dropped from the roster because of injury or call-ups, including Dovydas Neverauskas. Eppler, 25, has a 1.24 WHIP with 81 strikeouts to 23 walks in 18 games, 16 starts, this season.
Opponents have batted .264 against him, and he's posted a career-best ground ball to fly ball ratio.
• Outfielder Jason Martin, acquired as part of the Gerrit Cole trade, hit a two-run homer Friday against Columbus and has batted .323/.344/.516 with six RBIs in eight games since being promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis.
• Shortstop Kevin Newman has batted .317 over his past 10 games, raising his season slash line to .306/.353/.384. He has 22 doubles with 21 stolen bases. -- By Lance Lysowski
BRADENTON (HIGH-A)
• Third baseman Hunter Owen, a 25th-round draft pick in 2016, hit a grand slam Thursday and batted .306 over his past 10 games. Owen has 10 home runs and 35 RBIs in 69 games this season.
• Starting pitcher Luis Escobar, the Pirates' representative in the Futures Game last July, has a 1.26 WHIP with 79 strikeouts to 37 walks in 16 games — 15 starts — for the Marauders this season. The 21-year-old has pitched through the sixth inning in three of his last four starts.
• Outfielder Jared Oliva, a seventh-round draft pick last summer, is batting .283 with a .839 OPS and 35 RBIs in 74 games. He's reached safely in five of his past six games. -- Lysowski
WEST VIRGINIA (LOW A)
• Shortstop Oneil Cruz hit a two-run homer that traveled an estimated 443 feet Saturday against Hagerstown. It was Cruz's career-high 11th home run, tying him for the third-most in the Pirates' system this season. He also recorded his team-leading 14th multi-RBI game and now has 52 RBIs, second-most in the organization behind Craig and fourth-most in the South Atlantic League. Since May 1, Cruz is averaging .335, the fourth-highest average in the league during that span, with seven homers and 35 RBI in 55 games.
• Outfielder LoLo Sanchez, ranked among the organization's top 10 prospects by Baseball America, had two hits Saturday to extend his on-base streak to 14 games. Sanchez batted .356 with a home run, seven RBI and a .920 OPS in that span. His 16 stolen bases are tied for eighth-best in the South Atlantic League.
• Outfielder Calvin Mitchell, a second-round pick last summer, had two hits, including a home run, with three RBIs Tuesday and is now batting .304 with a .851 OPS, eight home runs and 40 RBI in 70 games. -- Lysowski
OTHERS
• Outfielder Travis Swaggerty, the Pirates' first-round draft pick last month, hit his first professional home run Saturday and tripled to spark the West Virginia Black Bears' come-from-behind win. Swaggerty, a left-handed hitter, is batting .300 with a .874 OPS in 10 games.
• Right-handed starting pitcher Shane Baz, the club's first round pick last summer, allowed four earned runs on four hits with nine strikeouts and four walks for short-season Bristol on Friday. Baz, 19, has a 1.37 WHIP with 20 strikeouts to 10 walks in four starts. -- Lysowski
