PITTSBURGH -- Ke'Bryan Hayes could barely contain his excitement when he stepped to the plate on May 22, beginning his rehab assignment with the Triple-A Indians.
Hayes had not seen live game action since April 3, when he injured his left hand and wrist on a foul swing in Chicago. So, when he stepped into the box against Twins No. 5 prospect Jhoan Duran in St. Paul, Minn., he wasn’t going to wait any longer.
“I swung first pitch,” Hayes said. “I was just so eager to be back out there and play.”
Hayes singled on that swing, and fans can likely expect more hits like that one from him, after he was activated from the 60-day injured list on Thursday and batted second for the Pirates as they opened a series against the Marlins at PNC Park.
Right-hander Wil Crowe was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis in a corresponding move.
Needless to say, Hayes has had to be patient over the past two months, a patience that was tested further when he aggravated his inflamed wrist while taking a swing off a machine in Detroit -- a high ball he fouled off, much like the one he did against Jake Arrieta that caused the initial discomfort.
“I was still feeling it a little bit, as far as balls up in the zone, whenever I’d foul them off or I’d get a little jolt kind of like how I injured it in the game,” Hayes said. “Just over time, letting it heal a little more, and then eventually it got to the point where I wasn’t feeling anything anymore, so then we started back ramping up again.”
The rookie third baseman looked like the National League Rookie of the Year frontrunner many expected him to be at the outset of the season during his short rehab assignment at Triple-A. Hayes hit two doubles and two homers in seven games for Indianapolis before the club decided he was ready to return to Pittsburgh.
The return of Hayes should provide a big spark for a struggling Pirates offense. The team’s .649 OPS is the second-worst mark in the Majors. Though Hayes is largely a gap-to-gap hitter, he also possesses an ability to hit homers, as he showed in Pittsburgh’s Opening Day win. The Pirates could use that, as they have hit a Major League-worst 37 home runs.
“It's a long road when you have an injury like he did, and to go through the rehab and work very hard, but he's an important part of what we're doing,” manager Derek Shelton said. “He's an important part of our club … so it's nice to have him back in the lineup.”
Worth noting
• Pirates No. 9 prospect Travis Swaggerty will miss the rest of the season after he underwent right shoulder surgery, per director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk. Swaggerty dislocated his shoulder on May 18, when he exited Triple-A Indianapolis’ game against St. Paul early.
Dr. Keith Meister performed the surgery, and Swaggerty is expected to miss five to five and a half months, but the Pirates are optimistic he will be ready for Spring Training next year.
“The reason, and the final decision, obviously, was with Travis,” Tomczyk said. “The timing of the surgery is just as important there as well. That if you get the surgery done now, he will have pretty close to a normal offseason to allow him to come in and compete for spring training with no reservations.”
• The Pirates held a pregame ceremony for MLB’s inaugural Lou Gehrig Day before Thursday’s game, which included a surprise donation of a Permobil wheelchair to Erie, Pa., native Dan Wingerter, an ALS patient who is a big Pirates fan -- much like Neil Alexander, the founder of the LiveLikeLou Foundation who died of ALS in 2015.
Representatives from LiveLikeLou, the ALS Association of Western Pennsylvania, Phi Delta Theta and Permobil were all present for the pregame festivities, which included a first pitch from ALS patient Brett Schoenecker and his wife, Jeannine.
Shelton said he learned a lot about Lou Gehrig and his fight against ALS by growing up watching Cal Ripken Jr. reach and ultimately surpass Gehrig’s consecutive games played record of 2,131, and he’s happy that Gehrig now has an MLB-recognized day.
“It's a horrific disease, and I think any time we can do research or help with it, it is extremely important,” Shelton said, “and I think this has been far too long that we honor Lou Gehrig, not only for the person he was on the field, but the disease he battled.”