PIEDMONT — Bishop O’Dowd shortstop Rashad Hayes Jr. makes the field look easy, ripping ground balls out of the dirt and making a pinpoint throw to second or first base to a withdrawal.
In a 9-5 win Wednesday against Piedmont, he threw out three runners and caught two pop-ups for the private school in Oakland.
These defensive skills are coveted by MLB and top college teams. Hayes is ranked by several sites as one of the top 100 amateur prospects in the class of 2025. Baseball America recently ranked him as the second-best defensive infielder in his class.
“Before the play happens, I already know where I’m going with the ball and what I want to do with it,” said Hayes, a Stanford commit. “So when the ball is hit, I just play and let my body react to what’s happening.”
The top-notch glove work on display against Piedmont in the West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division game was perfected by hours of practice and late-night drills with his father, Rashad Sr.
Hayes wasn’t the most talented player growing up, remembering one Little League game where he didn’t come off the bench.
The child was crushed.
“The joy he normally had was gone when this happened,” said Hayes Sr., whose son started playing T-ball at age two.
Instead of sulking, he told his father he wanted to get better. And Hayes did just that, sending him on the path to becoming one of the best shortstops in all of high school baseball.
The defense in the hole was eye-catching on Wednesday, but it was perhaps his development with the bat that was perhaps most intriguing.
He sent a hard-hit single through a gap to drive in a teammate during the sixth inning and also showed patience, walking once and getting hit by a pitch to reach base three times.
The successful day at the plate was a welcome sight for the .224 hitter who is still trying to figure out that part of the game. He models his game after MLB stars CJ Abrams and Tim Anderson.
“He’s got all the talent and all the tools,” O’Dowd coach Brian Mouton said. “It’s just about putting things together because he’s got everything you need from a shortstop.”
Hayes wasn’t the only reason the Dragons won Wednesday.
Vander Cole had two RBIs and Ben Skiles, Dimitri Williams and Enrique Sotelo each contributed an RBI. Starting pitcher Nikolas Haas was hitless in five innings and finished the day with six strikeouts and just three hits allowed.
He appreciated Hayes’ defensive skills.
“When you have a guy like that, you know any ground ball to the shortstop is going to be an out,” Haas said. “As a pitcher, you have to love it.”
Piedmont made things interesting in the final inning, picking up four runs to cut the deficit in half. Diego Delventhal was 2 for 3 with two RBIs, and Will Parker and Jordan Vo each had an RBI.
Even though the comeback attempt failed, Piedmont coach Eric Olson couldn’t help but be impressed by his team’s “moxie.”
“I was proud of the way they came out and had some quality at-bats and some hits at the end,” Olson said. “It’s definitely something to build on.”
Olson, who spent time in the New York Yankees farm system in 2000, sees a lot of potential in Hayes.
“The most important thing is his best baseball is still ahead of him,” Olson said. “The sky’s the limit for him.”
At just 16 years old, the 6-foot-1 Hayes still has plenty of time to become a power hitter while fine-tuning the other aspects of his game. It’s also not an MLB or miss for Hayes once he will have graduated in 2025.
“Being able to go to Stanford is huge, because we really value education and what this university has to offer,” Hayes Sr. said.
Although he is thrilled to receive an offer from one of the premier baseball programs on the West Coast, the younger Hayes also aspires to have a chance at the professional level out of high school.
“After the season we’ll have summer ball, and that’s where I want to go to the big events and prove who I am and why I should be drafted high,” Hayes said. “But I also try not to think about it too much…I just thank God every day for giving me this opportunity.”
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