Pirates 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes reveals that hip issue has caused back discomfort 'all year'

Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes revealed Tuesday night that he has been dealing with a hip issue “all year” that has caused back discomfort since before the start of spring training.

Hayes, 25, who signed a franchise-record, eight-year, $70 million contract in April, felt discomfort while lifting weights during the lockout. The hip issue has affected his performance both at the plate and in the field, where he’s a frontrunner to win an NL Gold Glove this season.

“I just had to battle through a certain thing throughout the whole year,” Hayes said after an 8-7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals that marked the Pirates’ 100th defeat of the season. “My first line of order, what I want to do when I get home, is get that fixed. That way, I can go into trying to work on things for the next season.”

Hayes, however, admitted that the hip and back issues have hurt his swing. He’s slashing .245/.316/.347 with a team-best 24 doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 41 RBIs in 135 games, with a career-best 20 stolen bases.

“For the most part, I’ve just been trying to find ways to really just get on the field, stay on the field,” Hayes said. “It’s kind of been frustrating. Some days, I feel pretty terrible. I tried to do what I can to where I can be out on the field and things of that nature.”

Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said the club assessed Hayes’ health on a daily basis, and that his playing status depended on how he was feeling and conversations with Pirates manager Derek Shelton.

“What I’ve learned with Key is he’s a tough kid to pull off the field, that’s for sure,” Tomczyk said. “He grinds through a lot, sometimes to a disadvantage. But that’s the balance as you grow and learn as a professional athlete. When you feel 70%, all right, I’m going to give 100% of that 70% every single day. His replacement on most teams isn’t as good as his 70% out of 100.”

Shelton said the Pirates were aware of Hayes’ hip and back issues and credited him for spending time in the training room doing “prehab” and recovery to prevent the problem from worsening.

“Ke’ took a major step in that regard this year,” Shelton said. “We’re talking about a guy that played elite defense. … I think our training staff and Ke’ himself have done a really good job of managing that because we saw a guy that was able to perform.”

Hayes missed a series in San Francisco after dealing with backs spasms, then spent a stretch on the 10-day injured list from Aug. 16-23 with what the Pirates called a mid-back muscle strain. Hayes started at third base in 28 of the Pirates’ final 40 games, with Rodolfo Castro starting there in the other 12 games.

“It’s kind of hard,” Hayes said. “Sometimes, getting off a flight late at night or depending on the bed that I’m in, all that has kind of played a factor. Here, lately, the last two weeks, I just tried to limit as many swings and turning and stuff as I could just so I could feel good enough to play. There’s been times where I felt a little pinch, little achy, kind of stuff like that. I just try to do what I can to feel the best that I can that way I can get out there and compete.”

After winning the Fielding Bible award last season as the best defensive third baseman in baseball, Hayes remains an elite defender whose 23 defensive runs saved was tied for best entering Tuesday’s game. Umprompted, Shelton campaigned Wednesday for Hayes to win his first NL Gold Glove.

Excellent as he was, even defense has been a challenge for Hayes. He committed five of his 12 errors in May, including three in a five-game span and in back-to-back games on May 21-22 for the only time in his career. Hayes called the difficulty on defense “weird,” saying he felt “terrible” at the start of the season but eventually started feeling normal again.

“I’m not one to make excuses,” Hayes said. “It was unfortunate that I had to deal with it, but I tried to make the best of what I had each and every day, try to do the best that I could in my at-bats. I didn’t always feel the greatest, but I tried to do what I could each and every day to feel the best that I could to go out there and compete.”