Ke’Bryan Hayes, Edwin Espinal win gold gloves

MiLB.com has named two Pirates’ minor leaguers, first baseman Edwin Espinal and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award. Those awards cover the entire minor leagues, meaning Espinal and Hayes were considered tops at their positions in all the minors.

Hayes was one of the younger players in the Florida State League. Baseball America rated him the Pirates’ sixth-best prospect coming into this season and he’s always been well regarded defensively. Espinal divided his time between Altoona and Indianapolis. He was the only first baseman in the minors with a 1.000 fielding percentage. (I’ve seen him enough to think he’s a pretty good defensive player at first, so I don’t think it was just the lack of errors, although I’m sure that helped.) Espinal will be a free agent after the season if the Pirates don’t add him to the 40-man roster.