The Pittsburgh Pirates appear as though they have found something with 22-year-old outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez. He hit his 12th homerun of the year in Pittsburgh’s 7-1 win over Cleveland on Sunday, making him just the fourth player in MLB history to achieve 12 homers and 31 RBIs through his first 31 games. Valdez joins Rhys Hoskins of Philadelphia in 2017, Cincinnati’s Aristides Aquino in 2018-19 and the Dodgers’ Will Smith in 2019 as the group of four.
Valdez is also hitting for average, as he’s batting
.305 on the season, and in his last 22 games, he’s hiiting .370 with 27 RBIs, an impressive number. He hit two homers during the weekend series with Cleveland, and also knocked in 5 RBIs.
Valdez has shown some signs of this kind of power — he hit 26 homers the Minors in 2025 and 22 homers in 2024 — and now he’s been able to carry it over to the Major Leagues. Pirates manager Don Kelly had this to say to ESPN:
“It’s the professionalism of the at-bats. He’s not going up there necessarily trying to hit the home runs. He’s going up there to hit, and he’s got the power to leave anywhere in the yard. I mean, it’s been really impressive what he’s been able to do in such a short amount of time, but the adjustments he’s made and the changes he’s made so far have been really impressive.”
The Bucs are now four games over .500 and are officially tied for the final Wild Card spot for the Playoffs. With any luck, Valdez will continue to contribute at a high-level. With fellow outfielder Oneil Cruz on the 60-day, and another big bat on the IL in Konnor Griffin, the Bucs are going to need all the help they can get from Valdez in order to make their final push for the postseason.
