Watch: Pirates 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes caught eating sunflower seeds with ball in play
The Pittsburgh Pirates have developed a reputation as one of the worst organizations in all of baseball. Sitting more than 30 games under .500, the Pirates will miss the postseason for a seventh consecutive year.
On Friday night, a bonehead lack of awareness from third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes against the New York Mets proved why the Pirates are seen as a laughingstock by the rest of the league.
In the third inning, Tomas Nido hit an RBI single, driving home Eduardo Escobar from second to give the Mets an early 1-0 lead.
As Escobar rounded third, Hayes stood apathetically just a few feet away. Hayes wasn't wearing his glove, and he used the other hand to grab some sunflower seeds from his back pocket.
Former major leaguer Todd Zeile broke down the embarrassing moment for SNY.
While it may be easy for a 25-year-old to lose focus during a mid-September game on a losing team, it's not a good look for Hayes or the Pirates.
The Pirates hope the behavior from the former first-round pick won't become a trend. After all, they've already made a long-term commitment to the third baseman.
In April, the Pirates locked up Hayes, inking him to an eight-year, $70 million extension.
Hayes has seven home runs and 38 RBI while slashing .246/.315/.326 over 122 games this season with the Pirates.
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