There’s good news on the Ke’Bryan Hayes front, but no timetable yet for his return yet.
A source tells DK Pittsburgh Sports that Hayes’ is feeling better after he aggravated his left wrist injury last week. He should resume swinging again this week.
Hayes initially injured his left wrist in the second game of the season after an awkward swing in the first inning. While he played the field for the next few innings, he did not take another at-bat.
The Pirates placed him on the injured list on April 4 and initially hoped he would be back after the 10 day minimum, but as they understood the scope of the injury more, they opted to take things slow.
Hayes was supposed to take part in a rehab game or two with the Pirates’ alternate site team last week, who were scheduled to play in Toledo against the Tigers’ alternate site team. Both of those games were snowed out, so the Pirates brought him to Detroit Wednesday, where the Pirates were taking on the Tigers. There, in one of his final swings against a high velocity pitching machine, he reported that his wrist was hurting again.
The Pirates sent him back to Pittsburgh, where he met with doctors to get his wrist reevaluated.
With the setbacks, it looks like Hayes is going to miss at least a month of his rookie season from when he was first placed on the injured list. The Pirates have been very cautious, and Hayes very open about how he’s feeling, to try to make sure it doesn’t become a lingering or chronic issue.
“We're gonna go day-to-day and see where he's at and have conversations with him,” Derek Shelton said before Tuesday’s game against the Royals.
Director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk will have his weekly Zoom call with the media Wednesday afternoon, where he will presumably have more information on Hayes.