Just 16 at-bats into his major league career, Ka’ai Tom has already lived an interesting life.
Before playing professional ball, he was an unborn good-luck charm during a Las Vegas heater that earned him his other first name, Blaze. He backed up Marcus Mariota on the football field in high school. He moved from Honolulu to Kansas to play junior college baseball and transferred to University of Kentucky, where Rick Eckstien was on the staff as a hitting coach.
Tom was a Rule 5 draft pick of the Athletics and logged his first inning on the mound before getting his first big-league hit.
A fascinating conversation can be had with the 26-year-old about his background and the intricacies of the Rule 5 draft, waiver and COVID-19 intake process. But as just the third natural outfielder on the Pirates’ roster upon his activation Tuesday afternoon, the most pressing issue should be his ability to take over as the team’s everyday center fielder or play any outfield slot with regularity.
“I’ve always said that center field is always my favorite. I just like how it’s very open and I can just run and catch balls and make plays,” said Tom, who has logged more than 115 minor league games at all three outfield positions. “Ultimately, I’m just focusing on being prepared for my opportunities, getting better. Wherever they put me in the lineup, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m just going to go out there and give it my all to get some wins for this club.”
Bryan Reynolds has maintained starting center field duties since the club designated both members of their opening day platoon, Anthony Alford and Dustin Fowler, for assignment during their recent 6-3 road trip. Reynolds is penciled in at center for the series opener Tuesday night against Kansas City. But he’s probably best suited for left, where he’s occupied nearly three times as many innings as the other two outfield slots.
Phillip Evans has played more outfield since his hot start, the natural infielder has cooled off considerably, going 5-for-42 (.119) in his past 11 games. Tom has a serious opportunity to earn consistent major league playing time for the first time in his career. But Derek Shelton is easing Tom into the shallow end with the new club. He said that Tom will initially be used in the corner outfield spots and “may” move to center eventually.
“We just want to make sure for full games that he's in a [good] position leg-wise, so you'll see him pinch-hit, pinch-run or play defense initially, but he's gonna get on the field,” Shelton said.
After being selected from Cleveland in the Rule 5 draft, Tom’s tenure with the A’s was short-lived. He was DFA’d last week after Steven Piscotty was activated from the paternity list for Oakland. Tom had just one hit in his first 16 at-bats -- which was a lot less leeway than the Pirates gave Alford and Fowler but with similar production.
The 2015 fifth-rounder earned his crack at the majors. He batted .290 with 23 homers and 86 RBIs across Class AA and AAA in the Cleveland system in 2019. He had just two hits through his first 24 at-bats that season with Akron before finishing the month batting .185. After a conversation with RubberDucks hitting coach Justin Toole and some slight mechanical adjustments to help get into a better rhythm with his hands, Tom caught a hot streak in which he batted .338 with 13 homers between May 5 and his promotion to Columbus in mid-June.
“I just told [Toole] how disappointed and frustrated I am, knowing that I'm a better hitter than what I'm producing on the field and at the plate,” Tom recalled. “It really helped me to stay on time with the pitchers and everything. I was really able to just drive the ball very well, but I kind of took a step back in previous years to keep a little balance. Not necessarily slap the ball, but not always drive the ball.
“Just little, minor adjustments. It didn't need to be so big. Kind of changed things around."
Tom transferred from Fort Scott CC to UK following the 2013 season. Once Eckstein joined the program in his junior year in 2015, Tom saw a steady increase from his first SEC season in practically all of his offensive numbers. But what he remembers most about working with his new hitting coach was the personality he brought to each situation.
“I love the way he goes about his coaching. It’s very energetic. He really tries to connect with the guys,” Tom said. “I remember some road trips, he would pull some guys together and come up with a game plan or see what they can do to better improve their hitting. Just mentality as well. It’s not always physical. You have to approach the mental side as well.”
If the hitting group could help find some hits in Tom’s short, compact swing, it could be another interesting find for the Pirates. But at this point, he’s just another low-risk play similar to that of Alford and Fowler, with the main difference being his Rule 5 restrictions.
“Ultimately, just like any other situation, whenever you get these opportunities, you have to make sure you can produce,” Tom said. “I just think, 'alright, it's time to go to work.' Just take whatever I learned from Oakland and successes and things I need to work on. Take it over to Pittsburgh and it's time to go to work and take advantage of these opportunities."
MORE FROM PREGAME
• Shelton was not able to provide an update on Ke’Bryan Hayes before the series-opener against the Royals. Hayes suffered a setback last Wednesday in his rehab from a wrist injury that’s kept him out since the second game of the season.
“We're going to go day to day and see where he's at and have conversations with him,” Shelton said.
• The Royals bring the best win percentage in baseball (.667) into PNC Park for the quick series this week. Dayton Moore has already built a championship team out of the small market of Kansas City in 2015, and he’s off to a roaring start again this year.
“I give them a lot of credit because they're making very smart baseball decisions. They have a good club. You look at their offense, they do a lot of things well. They're using their skill sets extremely well,” Shelton said. “Running and playing the little game and bunting, yeah. any time you make very smart baseball decisions like they have, it's encouraging and it's something that you know, we've looked at, you take part in and they've added veterans that are important. They have home grown guys so I think all of that plays into it."
• If Tom is referred to as, “Blaze” during the broadcast, it’s a reference to his given first name. Which Tom said was developed while his family was on a hot streak playing the “Blazing 7’s” game while on vacation in Las Vegas just before he was born.
• Staying consistent with the label-free messaging that’s been provided since spring training, Shelton still won’t formally name Rich Rodriguez the Pirates’ closer. Although that hasn’t stopped him from deploying Rodriguez in just about every situation that might go to a traditional closer.
“If you like to use labels I guess you can use ‘[closer],’” Shelton joked. “I think with him we can play to the leverage but I think it's safe to say most of the time he's going to pitch with the lead in the ninth.”
Rodriguez has not allowed a run in 9 ⅓ innings this season and 20 innings dating back to last August.