No call- up for Hayes, Tucker ... yet
One doesn’t have to be covering the Pirates for long before being asked about Cole Tucker and Ke’Bryan Hayes. Fans want to know when highly touted prospects — including pitcher Mitch Keller — are going to get promoted to the big leagues.
Tucker made his big- league debut April 20, the same day as Bryan Reynolds. Tucker’s arrival came with all the fanfare, but Reynolds has had the greater impact. Tucker had a .196/. 244/. 321 slash line in 112 at- bats before being sent back to Class AAA Indianapolis.
“Cole is just refining his approach and his mentality at the plate. He’s had to go through a struggle, which is actually a good thing,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said. “He struggled both there and here, and it’s a great lesson to learn that he’s going to need to stay consistent with his plan and understand who he is as a
hitter and how he’s going to be successful.”
Tucker has 19 hits with a double and a homer with 21 strikeouts in his previous 108 plate appearances in 23 games with Indianapolis. Tucker has played solid defense, but his bat isn’t exactly banging down the door to the Pirates clubhouse. Kevin Newman, the current starting shortstop, is hitting .310 with 37 RBIs and 10 stolen bases for the Pirates.
“He’s continued to play good, solid defense and be an amazing teammate and leader,” Huntington said of Tucker. “Probably not easy for him to sit up here and watch Kevin Newman put up the season that he’s had. We need Cole to get back to being Cole, and he’s going to help this club for years to come, as well.”
Erik Gonzalez returned to the Pirates lineup Sunday, so barring injury or poor performance, Tucker might not make it back to the majors until September. Tucker has been spending some time playing second base and it’s possible that could get him some extra playing time with the Pirates.
“I remember taking criticism that we were developing utility players, when really what we were doing was trying to find ways for guys to make the club the way Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer made the club,” Huntington said. ” They were able to play multiple positions and they earned their way into regular playing time. With that group, we’d kind of gotten away from it. It wasn’t an intentional movement away, it was more, ‘ Let’s let Tucker develop at shortstop because he needs development time. Hayes, with as good of a third baseman he is, let’s let the bat play.’ It was something we talked to Cole going out about. We wanted to get the bat back working in a good spot after a few struggles.”
Hayes is considered a Gold Glove- caliber third baseman -— an award he has won twice in the minors. But the bat hasn’t come along in a way that the Pirates would want. Hayes is hitting .255 with seven home runs and 26 doubles.
“We’re looking for that guy we saw in spring training to show up on a daily basis, that was looking to do damage when he got in the box and continue to be a good baserunner and a really good defensive player,” Huntington said. “There’s some hit- collector ability in here. He can shorten up and hit a ball over the second baseman’s head and get a line- drive base hit. But that guy we saw in spring training that can hit balls off batter’s eyes and deep into the bleachers in Bradenton and other places, that’s part of that adjustment process.
“It takes time. Just because we want it to happen doesn’t mean it’s going to happen on our time frame. Ke’Bryan is learning how to drive the ball, learning when to try to drive the ball, learning when to be a good hitter. That combination takes longer sometimes than we want it to, and we also sometimes forget just how young he is because he has progressed through the system pretty quickly and because of the spring that you all saw, you’re waiting for him to turn that corner. He’ll be in a position to help us sooner than later.”