Whole Hayes squad behind Ke'Bryan's rise taken at PNC Park (Pirates)

KEITH B. SRAKOCIC / AP

Ke’Bryan Hayes gets an RBI double for his first big-league hit in the sixth inning Tuesday at PNC Park.

This story, like all good stories, starts with an order from Chipotle.

It’s one of Ke’Bryan Hayes’ favorites, especially after a long day of practice at the Pirates’ alternate training site in Altoona, Pa.. He goes for the bowls, not the burritos. Extra white rice, half pinto beans, half black beans, double chicken, cheese, hot salsa, red salsa…

A phone call interrupted this trip, though. It was Brian Esposito, the manager at Altoona, about 20 minutes after the day had ended.

Esposito said that the Pirates wanted him to go to PNC Park Tuesday so he could get a couple at-bats against rehabbing starter Mitch Keller. Hayes was on board with the plan.

Esposito had more.

“And then you’re going to stay.”

Hayes’ immediate reaction was thinking that Esposito was joking. He’s had him as a manager twice. But the news quickly began to sink in.

“I was ecstatic,” Hayes said before Tuesday’s game, which he will play third base and bat seventh in his major-league debut. “I got chills in my body. I mean, it's what I worked for my whole life. And you can ask anyone back home, I put 100 percent effort into getting where I am today."

I ended up doing just that, reaching out to the rest of the Hayes family in Trombol, Texas.

“I know for me, it’s going to be one of the greatest days of my life,” Charlie Hayes, his dad, was telling me over the phone Tuesday. “I’m sure it’s going to be the same for him.”

Hayes got the news that his dream of reaching the majors may happened in an Altoona Chipotle, but it began in the Hayes household years earlier.

It was a whole team effort, if you will.

“I didn’t think any of my kids would love baseball more than I did,” Charlie said. “I think it’s a family thing. Everybody loves it.”

Gelinda, Ke’Bryan’s mom and Charlie’s wife, is the backbone of the family. By Charlie’s admission, she has gone to “way more games [of his] than I have.”

So it was only right that she got the first call from Ke’Bryan after he got the news.

“ ’You're kidding,' “ Ke’Bryan said his mom responded when he gave her the news. “She was like, 'really? Really?' I was like, 'Yeah, I'm going up mom,' and she was going 'yay, yay!' “

Then came the call to dad.

“He kind of didn't say anything at first and then I kinda heard it in his voice,” Ke’Bryan said. “Sounded like he was kind of crying a little bit. That was special for me."

And there are his two older brother. The eldest, Charles Jr., was “Mr. Taxi,” helping to make sure he was where he needed to be. Tyree, the middle child and a former minor-league pitcher, would spend hours playing catch with him under the hot Texas sun.

Charlie pushed Ke’Bryan and gave him advice, like telling him to throw hard to first base during warm-up drills, just in case a scout was there and that would be the only time he saw him. 

Ke’Bryan is the most driven player Charlie has ever seen, which is saying something since he runs a baseball academy and coached with the Phillies. Ke'Bryan has been working out at his dad's facility for years, and took about 1,000 swings per week this offseason off of Charlie and Tyree.

Charlie's youngest has been proving him and others wrong his entire life.

“A lot of people want to give me credit. It’s not me,” Charlie said. “It’s his brothers. Tyree’s been counting the hours, playing catch with that kid.”

Of course, the rest of the Hayes family won’t be able to attend his debut since fans are not allowed into stands.

Tyree will head back home to watch the debut with Charlie and Gelinda. Charles Jr., an avid bicyclist, is away and will watch it elsewhere. 

They’ll celebrate Ke'Bryan reaching the majors together another day.

“It tears me up a little bit, not being able to be there,” Charlie said. “It is what it is. That’s where we’re at right now. That’s what’s going on in the world today. He knows he we love him. He know we always supported him, know we believed in him. I’m just so happy for him.”

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