Ke'Bryan Hayes promoted to Morgantown

The Pirates have promoted top 2015 draft pick Ke'Bryan Hayes to Morgantown. There's still a chance the Black Bears could make the playoffs, although their regular season ends September 7. So Hayes is really just getting a couple weeks to get used to college-level competition, which should help prepare him to start next season in Charleston.

When the Bucs drafted him, Hayes was supposed to have an advanced approach to hitting for a high school product, and so far, he's been as advertised, batting .333/.434/.375 with 24 strikeouts and 22 walks in the Gulf Coast League. He isn't hitting for power yet, but that's to be expected, given that he's only 18. It's unwise to read too much into GCL stats, good or bad, but Hayes hit as you'd hope a top high school pick would.

It remains to be seen how the Black Bears will divide up time at second and third over the next few weeks -- they currently have Kevin Kramer playing second and Mitchell Tolman (who can also play second) playing third most of the time. It's possible Hayes and Tolman will bounce back and forth between third and DH.