Leg kick in tow, Hayes finds himself clicking at plate

PITTSBURGH -- Ke'Bryan Hayes knew he wanted to try something different. He’d been seeing the ball well enough, but his contact point was off. So, Hayes, once again, adapted.

With a mechanical tweak in tow, eschewing his toe tap for a more familiar leg kick, Hayes hit his third home run in the last four games as the Pirates lost to the Reds, 9-2, on Friday night at PNC Park.

“[I’ve been] in a good spot to hit, and fortunately getting the pitches to put good swings on,” Hayes said. “Just been working a lot, figuring out a setup to make my movements as minimal as possible. But yeah, just ultimately being in a good spot with my body being behind the ball and being able to let the barrel work down.”

Hayes began the season with a leg kick before his swing, but after a four-strikeout game against the Mariners in Seattle on May 28 (Hayes believes it was the first four-strikeout game in his entire life), he switched from a leg kick to a toe tap. The change yielded instant results; from May 31, the first day he introduced the toe tap, to June 9, Hayes went 19-for-34 (.559) with two home runs, two triples and three doubles, the highlight of that stretch being a five-hit game.

The toe tap worked for a brief period of time, but from June 10 to Aug. 6, a stretch that included two trips to the injured list due to lower back inflammation, Hayes hit .167/.176/.222 with two extra-base hits (one home run, one double) across 74 plate appearances.

Upon returning from the Pirates’ four-game series against the Brewers in Milwaukee this past weekend, Hayes rejiggered his mechanics by transitioning back to a short leg kick, as well as shortening the load with his hands. In addition to conversations with hitting coach Andy Haines, Hayes reviewed video from previous games, the goal being “to eliminate my move going back and then crashing back forward.”

“I feel like I have all the time in the world, because my movement is a lot more simple and it's more of just a ‘step to the ball and hit’ type of thing,” Hayes said. “Last month or so, I’ve been seeing the ball well. It’s just that contact's a little too deep, catching the ball with my bat path coming down versus being behind the ball. Then once I turn my hips, the barrel is working its way up through the zone, through the ball. Just really being behind the ball and being able to get the bat head up."

Hayes has immediately seen positive results since incorporating the tweaks. Over his last four games, he has gone 8-for-17 with three home runs and 10 RBIs. On Thursday, he became the first Pirate since Jason Bay in 2006 to record three consecutive games with at least three runs driven in.

Prior to re-incorporating the leg kick, Hayes had a .656 OPS and a 75 wRC+ on the season. Four days later, he has a .709 OPS and an 89 wRC+. Those numbers are still slightly below league average, but over the last handful of days, they’ve inched closer to even.

"I feel like being behind the ball better allows the barrel to get out in front a little better,” Hayes said. “You have a little room for error. You can be a little early, a little late, even."

The quality of contact has been just as encouraging as the numbers. Over the last four games, Hayes has put 15 balls into play and generated an average exit velocity of 95.8 mph, topping out at 109.4 mph. Hayes isn’t just hitting the ball hard; he’s also pulling the ball. Of his eight hits over the past four games, six have gone to left or center field.

“When he’s on time, you see [him hit balls] in the air on the pull side,” said manager Derek Shelton. “Today was in the air in the middle of the field, but I think that’s the biggest component.”

Four games is too small of a sample size to make any definitive conclusions. The toe tap also initially worked before Hayes deemed it ineffective. For the time being, though, Hayes is trending in the right direction.