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In 2021, Ke'Bryan Hayes didn’t have enough innings to win the Gold Glove. In ‘22, Hayes didn’t have enough … well, honestly, I don’t know what Hayes didn’t have enough of. (He led virtually every major defensive category among MLB third basemen, but the award still went to Nolan Arenado.)

No one was stopping Hayes in 2023. He ended Arenado’s run of 10 consecutive Gold Glove Awards by winning his first, and there was no argument. He should be one of the favorites to take home the Platinum Glove Award for the best defensive player at any position, too.

Now that Hayes has finally won it, let me tell you about the moment I knew he would win Gold Gloves. Plural.

June 27, 2021. The finale of a four-game set between the Pirates and the Cardinals. I had just defeated a very intense migraine, one so excruciating that during the second game of the series I had to sulk back to my hotel room across the street from Busch Stadium midgame so I could be at least functional the next day.

Thankfully, I could stand to be in the daylight by Sunday. And what a day it was to be at the park to witness arguably Hayes’ most magical play yet.

As Max Kranick began one of the best pitching debuts I’ve seen in my five years covering the Pirates, Hayes helped him maintain what would eventually be a run of five perfect innings by making a play on a chopper hit down the left-field line by Yadier Molina.

It’s not just that a normal third baseman doesn’t complete this play -- a normal third baseman does not do the things leading up to the unbelievably accurate throw.

Hayes was not shifted over toward the third-base line. He was in a pretty normal position. So to get to where the ball is hit well outside of the line, he has to get a great jump.

Then, Hayes had to throw the ball 159 feet(!) across his body. If you watch closely, there is a point when his body has to adjust in a split second to not lose any momentum. The ball takes a sharp hop on its second bounce near the bag and picks up some pace. Hayes takes one sharp step while extending his arm to ensure he doesn’t lose pace, but he also has to plant his foot in a balanced fashion or else he risks stumbling and blowing the play up.

This allows him to take his final couple of steps relatively easily and use his body’s propulsion on top of his arm to fire a 60.3 mph throw to first.

"Actually, when I released it, I thought I threw it a little too high,” Hayes said after the game. “It happened to be right on the money. One of those do-or-die plays."

Molina wasn't exactly Sonic the Hedgehog on the basepaths, but he was hustling; his 25.1 ft./sec. sprint speed, while below the 27 ft./sec. average league-wide, was well above his 22.6 ft./sec. average sprint speed in 2021. 

Molina signaled “safe” to the first-base umpire twice. Make no mistake: Molina wanted to leg that out.

But he couldn’t, and in turn, we in the press box looked at each other in disbelief. 

Two years later, these are looks of what one might call unbelievable belief. Hayes has made the exceptional look so routine that he hardly appears on defensive highlight reels. But no one is overlooking his gift of the glove now.