Reds fans are losing patience with Ke’Bryan Hayes but shouldn't give up on him (yet)

Ke'Bryan Hayes' glove remains elite. The two-time Gold Glove Award-winner has already contributed 4 defensive runs saved — the most among any third baseman — to the Cincinnati Reds' cause this season, positioning himself for another run at some defensive hardware.

The problem, as always, is his bat. Through his first 17 games, he's hitting just .064 with a .137 on-base percentage. He only has three hits on the young season — all singles — and was replaced in the starting lineup by Eugenio Suárez for the Reds' series opener against the Minnesota Twins on Friday night. Is there any hope for Hayes to figure things out, or is he simply just a lost cause at the dish?

Reds infielder Ke'Bryan Hayes can salvage his career, but it won't be easy

Add up all of Hayes' numbers at the plate this season, and you'll return with a -44 wRC+, which is just indescribably bad. It is the worst mark in all of Major League Baseball among hitters with at least 50 plate appearances. The distance between Hayes and the second-worst hitter this year (Patrick Bailey) is 35 wRC+ is staggering. So, yeah, this is an issue.

The Reds can't keep him throwing him to the wolves and hoping that he won't damage their run production as the team's No. 9 hitter. Teams took that approach before the universal DH was implemented a few years back, but Hayes is hitting far worse than those pitchers did.

If there is a silver lining to all this, it's that Hayes actually has something to hang his hat on when it comes to the sabermetrics. His xwOBA of .321 is more than 200 points clear of his actual mark (.109), which would rank right around league average. His .420 expected slugging percentage (xSLG) is actually above league average.

Hayes is producing those numbers thanks to some hard contact. His average exit velocity this year sits a 90.3 mph — a full mph higher than last season — and he possesses some elite plate discipline. His strikeout rate is among the best in the game at 7.8% and equal to his walk rate, and his whiff and chase numbers are among the best on the team. In other words, Hayes is actually displaying a reasonably good plate approach but he's not getting the results.

It doesn't help that he's swinging and missing on more than one-third of the breaking balls and off-speed offerings he hacks at, and his .050 batting average against four-seam fastballs isn't going to fly in the big leagues. There are massive holes in Hayes' game that a solid eye can't make up for.

Hayes can't continue to hit this poorly, can he? Some regression to the mean is only fair to expect if he continues to hit the ball as hard as he has through the first few weeks of the 2026 season. His superb glove also gives him a high floor, which means that the Reds can afford to give him a longer leash as he tries to find his offensive footing.

Simply put, this team is in its optimal state when Hayes is starting at third base. It might require a little bit of blind faith, but it'd be wise not to fully give up on his potential just yet.

That said, Suárez had some phenomenal defensive plays during the Reds' 2-1 win over the Twins on Friday night. If Hayes' bat doesn't pick up over the next couple of weeks, he may no longer find himself in the Reds' starting lineup.

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