The name and position number on the lineup card is a familiar one: Hayes, 5.
West Virginia Power manager Brian Esposito will scribble that last name and number - which, in baseball, refers to third base - on his lineup card often this season. It is a name that conjures up memories for the teenager who grew up on Staten Island.
Twenty years ago this fall, Esposito watched as New York Yankees third baseman Charlie Hayes settled under a pop-up in foul territory beyond third base and collapsed his glove around the ball for the final out of the 1996 World Series. The dogpile ensued. There was mayhem at Yankee Stadium. And Esposito relished the coming days when he could ditch school and make the trip downtown to celebrate the title.
He had no idea he'd one day manage the son of one of those big leaguers. In fact, this season's Power third baseman was almost at the same World Series celebration with Esposito.
You see, Ke'Bryan Hayes, a 2015 first round draft pick and one of the Pittsburgh Pirates' most coveted young prospects, is the son of the Yankees' third bagger who ended the '96 Series.
"The funny thing was when I first met Ke'Bryan and I knew he was going to be playing here this season, I was talking to him about the '96 Yankees when they won the World Series," Esposito said. "I was in high school at the time, and every time the Yankees won the World Series we would cut school and go to the ticker tape parade in the city. I asked him if he went to that parade not realizing how old he really is."
Ke'Bryan Hayes was there ... sort of. He was born Jan. 28, 1997, a few months after the World Series win.
"He was there," Esposito said, "except he was in his mother's womb at the time."
Now Ke'Bryan Hayes is preparing for his first full season as a professional, which begins Thursday night at Greensboro. Hayes is penciled into the starting lineup at third base, and he is the only teenager on the Power's 25-man Opening Day roster.
Charlie Hayes began his minor league baseball career in 1983 as an 18-year-old, and was 2.3 years younger than the average player in the league that season. Ke'Bryan played for the West Virginia Black Bears in the New York-Penn League last season, and was 3.1 years younger than his teammates and the competition.
The comparisons between father and son do not end there, and not simply because Ke'Bryan is following in his father's footsteps on the hot corner.
"Every coach that I meet tells me that I look just like him, that I move just like him and I play just like him," Ke'Bryan Hayes said.
Esposito, 37, didn't watch Ke'Bryan's father through the same lens he does now, but the Major League pedigree is evident.
"You can tell that he's had somebody groom him who has played in some big games like his dad has," Esposito said. "He has the ability to slow the game down, the ability to change the game on both sides of the ball. He's a tremendous defender at third base. There's no panic in his game."
That approach carries over to the plate.
"He's calm in the batter's box, he looks like a hitter, he has a lot of hitter tendencies, stays in the zone for a long time with his barrel, can use all fields; he should have power once he matures," Esposito said. "Right now he can cover the gaps, can cover the alleys, can choke up and put the ball in play when he has two strikes. He's a hitter."
Charlie Hayes was listed at 6 feet, 0 inches and 190 pounds. Ke'Bryan checks in at 6-1, 210.
The younger Hayes said his father was "hands off" as a baseball parent, so he tried football and basketball before being lured solely to the diamond. He worked out with his older brother, Tyree Hayes, who pitched professionally for six seasons.
"It was baseball every day," Ke'Bryan Hayes said. "Any information my father or brother had, I took it in."
After becoming the 32nd overall pick in last year's MLB first-year player draft - he reportedly received a $1.855 million signing bonus - Hayes batted .308 with 20 RBIs and eight steals in 56 games between rookie league and the Pirates' short-season affiliate in Morgantown. His next home run will be his first as a professional. His father clubbed 144 home runs across 14 big league seasons with the Giants, Phillies, Yankees, Rockies, Pirates, Brewers and Astros.
In fact, Charlie Hayes was traded from the Pirates to Yankees on Aug. 30, 1996. Two months later he caught Mark Lemke's 3-2 foul out, won a ring and created a lasting memory for Esposito.
"That's how our relationship started," Esposito said of he and his new third baseman. "Me telling him about how his old man got me a couple days off from school."