OnlyBucs

062B26373021367675440 wrote: I'm really liking Hayes. He was billed as a strong defensive player with a questionable bat. But he looks so comfortable at the plate. It's only taken him 4 MLB games to get a single, double, triple and home run. Unlike so many Pirate batters, he doesn't step up to the plate looking like he knows he's overmatched. Sometimes players become much better hitters at the MLB level than they were at the minor league level. Maybe Hayes will become one of those. But at least in his first few games he looks more than up to the task.
What really frustrates me and I'm sure the young players are keeping them down in the minors so long. It's ridiculous to leave a guy in the minors for 5 years. If you can't develope them in 3 years there's something bad wrong. I've seen this in this organization for years, and it's very frustrating.

I think that they brought him up at the right time. He is ready. Remember that he had a slow start in his first half year at AAA with the bat. This has been a strange, lost year. We get an extra year of control and there is no super two status. Hayes could be as great as Cutch- maybe better because of defense if he keeps hitting!

I have little doubt that Hayes will be a very good player, but I wonder who he will be playing for when these cheapskates salary dump him.