Hayes swings bat, still no estimate on when he could return to action
SAN DIEGO — Ke’Bryan Hayes has been swinging a bat for a couple of days and feels really good doing it. No pain. No limitations. The hope is that, in the coming days, he’ll transition from hitting in the cage to on-field work.
As good as that sounds, it does not appear that Hayes will return on this road trip, nor are there concrete plans for when Hayes will be back. Those conversations are ongoing, Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said prior to Wednesday’s game, and it sounds like Hayes will probably have a rehab assignment before rejoining the team.
“As [manager] Derek [Shelton] indicated [Tuesday], [Hayes] has continued his return-to-swing hitting progression. That is going well at this point,” Tomczyk said. “He is not experiencing the discomfort, the soreness, the symptoms that he did per his re-aggravation in Detroit. The short-term plan for Ke’Bryan is to continue to build up the swing volume in the cage, respond and see how he comes out of that. There is a goal that he hits on the field in the coming days, hopefully later this week.”
Hayes, of course, has been out since the second game of the season due to a left-wrist strain that he suffered while swinging. He got close April 21 in Detroit when he tested the injury before a game against the Tigers at Comerica Park, but re-aggravated it and was sent back to Pittsburgh for testing and treatment.
Although neither Shelton nor Tomczyk have explicitly said that Hayes will require a rehab assignment before returning, Tomczyk did say Wednesday that completing one is likely in Hayes’ best interest. Plus, the minor leagues have started, so it’s markedly easier from a logistical standpoint.
“To give Key the best chance to be successful when he does return to the major leagues, it makes sense to get him some type of rehab at-bats prior to activating him,” Tomczyk said. “But again, those conversations are ongoing. Nothing has been finalized. We’re taking this day by day.”
Other updates
Per his usual Wednesday availability, Tomczyk offered a handful of other updates:
• Chad Kuhl (right shoulder discomfort) threw a second side session Wednesday at Petco Park. If all goes well, a next step for Kuhl would be live batting practice or a simulated game. He has been on the injured list since April 22 (retroactive to April 19).
• Steven Brault (left lat strain) is nearly done with his advanced strengthening exercises and will soon transition to some one-armed plyometric work. That’s the last step before Brault resumes throwing, which should start by the end of this week or early next. Because he has missed so much time, Brault will need at least a month to rebuild arm strength.
• Jared Oliva (left oblique strain) has started doing light baseball activities at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. He’s on track to return to full baseball activities by late May.
• Not from Tomczyk, but still important: Pitcher Cody Bolton, the Pirates’ 10th-best prospect per MLB Pipeline, is currently on the seven-day injured list with a lower-body injury.
Remembering Ray
The day before it became public that Ray Miller had passed away, Mitch Keller did something in his start Tuesday that the former Pirates pitching coach would have loved.
He worked fast, changed speeds and threw strikes. That was Miller’s credo, and it’s something that manager Derek Shelton thinks will never change.
“You read Ted Williams’ book and he talks about choking up and using the other side — that’s going to play until the end of time,” Shelton said. “[Miller’s] credo is always going to play. You see guys who work fast, go after peopleand throw strikes, good things are going to happen.”
Shelton grew up an Orioles fan and opened his pregame Zoom call by offering “heartfelt condolences” to Miller and his family on behalf of the Pirates.
‘He pitched there’
An underrated part of Tuesday’s victory was a seventh-inning battle between David Bednar and Fernando Tatis Jr., one the Mars native won by getting one of MLB’s best hitters to pop out to second.
After falling behind, 1-0, Bednar got a called strike on a curveball, had Tatis Jr. foul off a 97 mph fastball, missed with a splitter, then ended the inning by taking a little off another splitter.
“He pitched there,” Shelton said. “That’s a learning experience. That’s man-to-man stuff. He’s going after one of the best players in the game. Those moments are cool.”
Bednar has been scored upon just twice in 13 appearances following his sensational spring. He has a 2.31 ERA in 11⅔ innings, striking out 12 and walking just three.
“We saw the really big fastball in spring training,” Shelton said. “I think we’re seeing signs of maturity and growth with the split and the curveball and being able to execute them in counts.”