On Thursday, January 23, 2020, the Pittsburgh Pirates organization came to the Rack to host the annual Pirates Care-a-Van. The Pirates hosted a hitting clinic for local New Castle Elementary students. I had the pleasure to interview top prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes. Hayes is the number one prospect for the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and ranked 2nd best 3rd base prospect in the minor league. Hayes has accumulated a career .279 average in the minors with a total of 483 hits and 25 home runs with 202 runs batted in.

I hope you enjoy this exclusive interview.-Sam

Q: What is your favorite part about baseball?

Hayes: “Um I mean, I get to wake up in a sense do what little kids do. I get to play baseball for a living, it’s always what I wanted to do. I couldn’t ask for anything else.”

Q: When you first get drafted, how does it feel?

Hayes: “The night whenever I got drafted my dad, my dad has a baseball center, so we had a whole bunch of parents from his teams and whatnot. Whenever I got drafted it’s like you go into shock. You can’t believe that it happened. I mean, that’s all I have been working for since I was a little kid. Watching my brother get drafted and watching my dad play, it was the start of my career. I can’t really describe it.”

Q: Is hard work or skill more important?

Hayes: “Definitely hard work. Some guys will have that talent, that talent will only take them so far. I played with a lot of guys when I was younger that they were better, faster, and stronger than me. I mean, I put in the hours whenever we were younger while they were gone at a party. I chose to get better at baseball and try to pass them up. One thing my dad always told me was there was some kid in the Dominican right now, he’s not even going to school, he’s focusing on baseball, so whenever you have the opportunity to do it, you need to do it.”

Q: When were you drafted and what pick?

Hayes: “I was drafted back in 2015. I was the first round 32nd pick.”

Q: What college did you attend to play baseball?

Hayes: “I actually got drafted right out of high school although I was committed.”

Q: Which Pirate on the current roster are you closest to?

Hayes: “I would either say either Jason Martin or Cole Tucker. Well, I am probably closer to Cole I have known him a little longer. He’s been at shortstop and I’m at 3rd, we’ve been on the same side of the infield for the past 3-4 years.”

Q: What is it like to play baseball as a job?

Hayes: “Just like I was saying earlier, essentially baseball isn’t really a job. I am playing a game for a living. I don’t even treat it as a job, I just go in, have fun, and work hard.”

Q: What was your favorite team growing up?

Hayes: “I was a big Yankees fan…my dad played for the Yankees and won a World Series with them in 1996. I always had a lot of Yankees gear growing up”

Q: If you could be a teammate with a past or present player, who would it be? 

Hayes: “That’s a tough question… I guess growing up my favorite player to watch was Berry Bonds so I would probably say him. My dad said that he was always his favorite player just to watch go about his business and on like any given pitch, he could hit a home run.”

Q: If you are allowed to speak on this, what are your opinions on the Astros cheating scandal and do you think their punishment was severe enough?

Hayes: “It is very unfortunate that it happened. I hope behind the scene that it isn’t true. I’ve met Alex Bregman before… I worked out with him before… and from what I know, he is a really nice guy. If it does turn out to be true, it’s just really unfortunate.”

Q: With your amazing success in the MiLB, how close do you think to call up day is? 

Hayes: “I mean with me…I always think about playing in the major leagues and stuff, but I can’t really think about when that day is going to come. I just try to work hard every day. We always say ‘Be where are feet are’ and just try to get better every day… so whenever that day comes, it comes.”

After the interview was conducted, I came to the realization that Ke’Bryan Hayes was by far the nicest player I have ever met. Since I met former Pittsburgh Pirate, Andrew McCutchen back in 2013, I never thought I could meet a nicer player until I met Hayes. I would like to thank Ke’Bryan for his time with me. It was truly an honor and a dream of mine to sit down with a professional baseball player. Although Ke’Bryan has not made it to the big leagues yet, I believe that day is coming really soon for him. I would also like to thank everyone in between that helped me set up this interview and made it possible.

If you would like to watch the video format of this interview, head over to my Youtube channel with this link.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdbwcuhjUtw