The Cincinnati Reds' Unique Player: Ke'Bryan Hayes
The Cincinnati Reds' roster is a testament to versatility, but one player stands out as a true enigma.
In a league where versatility is highly valued, Ke'Bryan Hayes emerges as a unique player. He's a 3B by trade, but his role is more complex than that. Hayes has over 9,100 innings logged as a professional since being drafted in 2015, and all but 5.0 of those innings have come as a 3B. Despite his exceptional glove work, his bat has been one of the worst of any regular for over two seasons running.
Hayes is the lone position player on the roster outside of the backup catcher who plays nowhere else, making him something of a unicorn. His role is a bit of a paradox; he's on a versatile roster as the guy who most profiles as a player who should move around a lot, but doesn't. Instead of being paid like a utility player, he's on a long-term deal that guarantees him $36 million and makes him one of the higher-paid guys on the team.
The Reds' decision to sign Hayes is intriguing. They went out and got him specifically because this is who he is, despite having a handful of better bats who also look like they should probably play 3B most days. Perhaps there's a renaissance with Hayes' bat in there somewhere that I don't see. Perhaps the Reds are, for whatever reason, simply content to get 1.6 dWAR from Hayes at 3B batting 9th most days and nothing more, all while one of Stewart, Suarez, or Steer sits on the pine those days.
But here's where it gets controversial...
Hayes' role is a bit of a mystery. He's a 3B, but he doesn't play the defensive positions higher up the pecking order of importance like CF or SS. He's a glove-first player at a position otherwise populated by big-hitting sluggers. You know the archetypes - the Jose Oquendos, the Tony Phillips, the Craig Counsells, the Juan Uribes, the Ryan Freels (RIP). In Hayes, they found a guy with two of the most overriding characteristics of classic utility guys - great glove, no bat - but didn’t get a guy who, for whatever reason, has never been tasked with taking that elite defense all over the diamond to unlock the rest of his roster.
And this is the part most people miss...
The Reds' roster is a testament to versatility, but Hayes' role is a unique one. He's a 3B by trade, but his role is more complex than that. His contract and performance raise questions about his value to the team. Despite his exceptional glove work, his bat has been one of the worst of any regular for over two seasons running. The Reds' decision to sign him is intriguing, and it will be interesting to see how his role evolves over the course of the season.
