Kovacevic: Hayes' bust-to-boom summer a beautiful sight to behold

This Ke'Bryan Hayes swing might've been, I swear, as unsightly as it was unproductive.

Tight game. Second inning. Runner at third base. One out. One of the National League's premier pitchers on the mound. All that's sought in this situation -- no, all that's needed -- is to put a ball into play somewhere. Simple contact. Sac fly. Just get the run across.

This was Hayes' first swing:

I can't. I just can't. I've been watching that swinging-out-of-their-shoes nonsense from these Pirates in such settings all freaking summer, and there's almost no context in which I can accept that as being sound baseball.

Almost.

Because see, there also was this ...

... the 427-foot solo laser off Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes that cleared the Notch in the fifth to put the Pirates ahead to stay in what'd wind up a 4-2 flattening of the first-place Brewers on this Labor Day night at PNC Park.

There was this, too ...

... a triple clubbed off the Clemente Wall in the seventh.

And this ...

... a ridiculous run to the railing for a foul pop.

(Don't be skipping any of these, by the way. I'm watching.)

And one more ...

... a mile-long ranging to his left to start a strange 5-6-3 double play.

That one prompted Derek Shelton to marvel later, "This guy's so good in the field that I think we just get spoiled in Pittsburgh watching him. Because he does things most nights that most human beings can't. That play right there ... to be able to go as far as he did to his left, to get the shuttle ... his Gold Glove campaign should've started long ago."

That's one game, my friends. Just one.

For the season, Hayes is slashing .267/.309/.446 with 12 home runs, 41 extra-base hits and 53 RBIs, adding up to a .755 OPS that ranks 14th among Major League Baseball's 18 third basemen with enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title. Which is, of course, nothing special. Even less so, arguably, when weighing that eight-year, $70 million extension from a year ago, a franchise record at the time.

And yet, it's been true since the dawn of Abner Doubleday's invention that baseball's a game of failure. And that, as a result, a player's ultimately defined by how he'll overcome that adversity.

This was Hayes through May 30:

• Batting average: .216
• On-base percentage: .270
• Slugging percentage: .337
• Home runs: 2
• RBIs: 17

This is Hayes ever since, all despite having to be shut down for all but one game in July due to a lingering back ailment:

• Batting average: .315
• On-base percentage: .347
• Slugging percentage: .527
• Home runs: 10
• RBIs: 36

That .315 batting average since May 30 is the very best among all third basemen in the majors.

Pointing to some definitive pivot in performance isn't easy. But, on May 28 in Seattle, this young man plummeted to what must've been his baseball bottom: He went 0 for 5 against the Mariners, struck out four times and, what had to be worst by far, he was interviewed by me on all three days of that trip to the Pacific Northwest. Including after that finale.

I asked in that nearly silent room if he could envision how he'd bounce back.

"Not really," came the reply, barely audible. "Just ... missing the ball. Swinging at pitches that I can't really do anything with. Kinda one of those things. Gotta swing at better pitches."

Well, after this game, I reminded him of that trip and, in particular, that talk.

"Yeah, that was a tough time, for sure," he'd recall. "I've had a couple of those."

He sure has. But never a bounceback comparable to this.

What's made this one happen?

"I feel like I've been able to find a good setup over the last month, month and a half," he'd reply. "For a while, I went to the toe-tap and then kind of got inconsistent with that and, yeah, just kinda found another setup where it's just a step-and-hit versus a leg kick."

For the latter, he credited Jon Nunnally, the former big-leaguer who's now the hitting coach with Class AA Altoona. The two have connected all summer, including Nunnally's drives across Route 22 to do so in person.

"Huge help," Hayes would stress to that.

And how's this feel, to be finally rising up to the expectations he's long had for himself, living up to the extension and all that?

He didn't seem to want any part of that subject, very much befitting his earth-bound persona. 

"Yeah, I mean, it's been a small sample size. I still gotta keep working hard. Still got a long way to go, of course. But sure, it feels good just to finally find something where I'm driving the ball consistently. I mean, whether I make an out or get a hit, I'm at least hitting the ball hard on a line more consistently."

All right, so I also had to ask: What was up with that insane hack in that first at-bat?

"Yeah," he'd come right back with a bit of a smile. "Early on, I was just trying to be aggressive. I thought he might try to sneak a heater by me."

Dude.

"I know. It just should be an easy take."

Shelton had an even more telling response when I raised with him the possibility that all concerned are just steering clear of Hayes' hitting in any way.

"Yeah, with where he's at right now," the manager would acknowledge, "let him take his at-bats."

Let the bat play, as the scouts love to say. 

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THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 10-day injured list: RF Henry Davis (thumb)

• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), INF Tucupita Marcano (knee), LHP Angel Perdomo (elbow), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, DH
4. Connor Joe, RF
5. Jack Suwinski, CF
6. Endy Rodríguez, C
7. Liover Peguero, SS
8. Alfonso Rivas, 1B
9. Ji Hwan Bae, 2B

And for Craig Counsell's Crew:

1. Christian Yelich, LF
2. William Contreras, DH
3. Carlos Santana, 1B
4. Sal Frelick, CF
5. Willy Adames, SS
6. Mark Canha, RF
7. Victor Caratini, CF
8. Brice Turang, 2B
9. Andruw Monasterio, 3B

THE SCHEDULE

Middle match of the series pits Andre Jackson (1-1, 2.92) against Brandon Woodruff (3-1, 2.70), 6:35 p.m., at PNC Park. Corey Crisan will cover.

THE MULTIMEDIA

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