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Stats

Esmerlyn Valdez homers in fourth straight game

Valdez_Esmerlyn (1).jpg

Esmerlyn Valdez

PIT Right Fielder #55

Player Stats

Esmerlyn Valdez went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and two walks versus the Phillies on Monday.

Valdez has homered in four straight games, including in his only at-bat as a pinch-hitter on Saturday against the Reds. Getting more playing time because of Spencer Horwitz’s injury, he’s now 13-for-45 with six homers, even though he has struck out 19 times in his young career. Because of the swing-and-miss issues, he’s probably not going to remain strong enough against righties to keep playing regularly as a 22-year-old rookie. However, this is a lot of fun right now. His homer tonight was hit 411 feet off Aaron Nola, and his other hit was a 111-mphy double versus Tim Mayza.

- Matthew Pouliot

Recap

More Esmerlyn Valdez News

Is it time for Dodgers to bench Ohtani?

Not So Fast's Paul Pabst and Andrew Perloff discuss Shohei Ohtani's dramatic postseason struggles and debate whether the Dodgers should consider benching their struggling superstar.

Up Next

Is it time for Dodgers to bench Ohtani?

Brewers are ‘fun to watch’ leading NLCS 2-0

Dodgers may bench struggling Ohtani in Game 3

Brewers stifle Dodgers in Game 1, CLE makes ALCS

Yamamoto is a throwback ace

Ramirez peaking at the perfect time for Cleveland

Can Williams’ ace-level form carry Guardians?

Turang’s power-hitting strides showing up in NLCS

Bet on Guardians to ‘go the distance’ vs. Rays

Smoltz: NLCS will be ‘unbelievably’ close series

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Esmerlyn Valdez

PIT Right Fielder #55

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Pirates placed OF Esmerlyn Valdez on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain.

Valdez winds up on the shelf after suffering the injury during Friday’s game against the Cubs. He’s likely done for the season with just over two weeks left. The power-hitting 22-year-old wraps up a strong rookie campaign with a .232/.345/.510 slash line with 40 runs scored, 17 homers and 47 RBI across 287 plate appearances in 72 games. His all-or-nothing approach, which yielded a 37 percent strikeout rate in his first taste of the majors, is going to result in some extended cold spells, but he’s capable of launching homers in bunches when he’s locked in at the dish.
Esmerlyn Valdez

PIT Right Fielder #55

Esmerlyn Valdez (hamstring) is not in the lineup for Saturday’s game against the Cubs.

No surprise after Valdez was removed from Friday’s game with hamstring discomfort. It sounds like a potential injured list situation, but the Pirates have the roster flexibility to wait a couple days before making that decision, if that’s how they want to proceed. It’ll be Jake Mangum taking over in right field for the moment.
Esmerlyn Valdez

PIT Right Fielder #55

Esmerlyn Valdez left Friday’s game in the sixth inning with a hamstring injury.

The Pirates are calling it hamstring discomfort, but Valdez had to be helped off the field. Unless was just a really bad cramp, Valdez’s season is most likely over. That would mean more at-bats for Jake Mangum and Billy Cook, unless maybe the Pirates want to give Jhostynxon Garcia a try. Garcia, though, just returned from injury in Triple-A.
Esmerlyn Valdez

PIT Right Fielder #55

Esmerlyn Valdez homered and walked Wednesday in the Pirates’ 4-2 win over the White Sox.

The homer off Davis Martin was Valdez’s third in 34 games after he hit 14 in 37 games to open his major league career. He’d seem to be in line to lose some playing time once Ryan O’Hearn comes off the IL, though probably not as much as he’d lose if O’Hearn were ready to play right field right away. Most likely, he’ll be limited to DH and first base initially.
Esmerlyn Valdez

PIT Right Fielder #55

Esmerlyn Valdez is out of the lineup on Thursday against the Giants.

Valdez was a great story earlier this year, and he should certainly get a chance to compete for a lineup spot in 2027, but he has really struggled of late. In 39 games since the All-Star break, he is hitting .189/.335/.379 with six home runs and 18 RBI but also a 39.6 percent strikeout rate and just a 71.7 percent zone contact rate. Those contact issues are going to continue to be a major obstacle to his fantasy value unless he can find a fix, and he does not need to be rostered in redraft leagues right now.
Esmerlyn Valdez

PIT Right Fielder #55

Esmerlyn Valdez hit a two-run homer Sunday in the Pirates’ 5-4 victory over the Cardinals.

After four weeks of being stuck on 14 homers, Valdez has collected two in his last four games. He’s racking a lot more strikeouts than hits of late, but at least he has drawn some walks to keep his OBP up; he’s batted .197/.337/.325 with 40 strikeouts in 95 plate appearances this month. He’ll probably remain in the lineup most of the time until Ryan O’Hearn returns, something that’s at least a couple of weeks away from happening.
Esmerlyn Valdez

PIT Right Fielder #55

Esmerlyn Valdez went 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and two runs scored as the Pirates defeated the Red Sox 8-3 on Sunday.

Valdez doubled in the first inning and came around to score when Bryan Reynolds followed with a double of his own. He doubled again in the third, this time scoring on a Brandon Lowe groundout. The 22-year-old was off to an electric start in his big league career, but he has slumped in August with a strikeout rate pushing 40 percent. The slump coincides with a stretch in which the entire Pittsburgh lineup has struggled to produce. Valdez will ultimately be a streaky hitter with big power and big swing-and-miss.
Esmerlyn Valdez

PIT Right Fielder #55

Esmerlyn Valdez is not in Pittsburgh’s starting lineup against the Brewers on Thursday.

Since taking a scary-looking hit by pitch last Tuesday, Valdez is 1-for-23 in his last eight games. Ronny Simon is starting in right field against RHP Dustin May.
Esmerlyn Valdez

PIT Right Fielder #55

Esmerlyn Valdez (wrist) is in the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Diamondbacks.

Valdez managed to avoid serious injury, with initial X-rays came back negative for any fractures, after being hit in the left wrist by a pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning on Monday night. He’s back in right field and hitting cleanup following the injury scare. The 22-year-old rookie slugger has been an unexpected revelation for Pittsburgh, and fantasy managers as well, hitting .290/.386/.702 with 14 homers and 36 RBI across 145 plate appearances in 38 games this season. He’s overdue for some regression in the batting average department based on his plate skills, but the over-the-fence power is very real and it’s fantastic.
Esmerlyn Valdez

PIT Right Fielder #55

Esmerlyn Valdez is listed as day-to-day after getting hit on the hand on Monday night.

Valdez had to be removed from the game and appeared to be in clear pain. However, the X-rays revealed no fracture, so the 22-year-old will simply wait for the pain and swelling to go down before re-entering the lineup. Both the Pirates and fantasy managers can breathe a sigh of relief.

Rotoworld

Griffin Jax

TB Starting Pitcher #22
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Griffin Jax will start Game 3 of the ALCS in Cleveland, the Rays announced.

This is a surprise, but Nick Martinez did leave his ALDS start after taking an Anthony Volpe liner off his lower back. Jax will be making his first ever postseason start. He allowed one run and struck out four over two innings in his one relief appearance last week against the Yankees. Jax had a 2.41 ERA and a 39/9 K/BB over 37 1/3 innings in his final eight starts of the regular season.
- Matthew Pouliot

Source: Marc Topkin

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Freddy Peralta

TB Starting Pitcher #51
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Freddy Peralta shut out the Guardians for six innings Tuesday as the Rays won 3-1 in order to even the ALCS at one game apiece.

Peralta allowed four hits, walked two and struck out six while topping out at 99.4 mph on the radar gun tonight. His 96.9 mph average with his fastball was 2.6 mph better than his mark from the regular season. Including his two postseason outings, he’s gone eight straight starts without allowing more than one run. The ALCS will resume in Cleveland on Wednesday, with Griffin Jax — not Nick Martinez — and Gavin Williams slated to start.
- Matthew Pouliot

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Bryan Baker

TB Relief Pitcher #47
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Bryan Baker needed just eight pitches to work a scoreless ninth against the Guardians for a save in Game 2 of the ALCS on Tuesday.

Baker has yet to allow a hit while pitching four scoreless innings and earning for saves this postseason. That his velocity is down about two mph just hasn’t mattered yet.
- Matthew Pouliot

Recap

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Parker Messick

CLE Starting Pitcher #77
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Parker Messick was charged with three unearned runs in five innings in Tuesday’s loss to the Rays.

All of the runs came after a José Ramírez error in the fourth. Even before the error, Messick barely missed out on a double play ball from the second batter of the inning — Victor Mesa Jr. was originally called out at first but it was overturned on replay — and then got another chopper that would have resulted in an out if it wasn’t Chandler Simpson running. The error scored one run and then a single from Liam Hicks plated two. It’s Messick’s second loss in three postseason starts, though this was his best performance of the three.
- Matthew Pouliot

Recap

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Liam Hicks

TB Catcher #34
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Liam Hicks had two hits and two RBI from the eighth spot in the order in Tuesday’s win over the Guardians.

Hicks made it a 3-0 game with his two-run single off Parker Messick in the fourth. Hicks usually sits against lefties and didn’t start Game 1 against Foster Griffin, but he delivered in a rare opportunity tonight. He was 4-for-24 with one extra-base hit versus southpaws over the final two months of the regular season after being acquired from the Marlins.
- Matthew Pouliot

Recap

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Brandon Woodruff

MIL Starting Pitcher #53
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Brandon Woodruff threw 31 pitches in a bullpen session Tuesday and could face hitters next time out.

Woodruff, who is trying to make his way back from another round of shoulder issues, said his stuff today was “pretty good.” He’s aiming to contribute if the Brewers advance to the World Series.
- Matthew Pouliot

Injury

Source: Curt Hogg

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Shohei Ohtani

LAD Designated Hitter #17
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Shohei Ohtani will be in the lineup for Wednesday’s Game 3 against the Brewers, manager Dave Roberts said.

Ohtani is working on some mechanical tweaks and is hoping he’s figured something out. Even with Josue De Paula waiting in the wings, the Dodgers don’t really have much choice other than to stick with the four-time MVP, even if he is 3-for-20 in the postseason and looking just as bad as the line suggests.
- Matthew Pouliot

Source: Bill Plunkett

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Austin Hedges

CLE Catcher #27
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Austin Hedges is hitting eighth and catching against the Rays on Tuesday in Game 2 of the ALCS.

Hedges is behind the plate, meaning Patrick Bailey will begin Tuesday’s contest on the bench. That’s the only player change for the Guardians as they look to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The full lineup behind Parker Messick: Steven Kwan LF, Jose Ramirez 3B, Chase DeLauter DH, Jo Adell RF, Travis Bazzana 2B, Petey Halpin CF, Hedges C and Brayan Rocchio hitting ninth at shortstop.
- Christopher Crawford

Source: MLB.com

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Chandler Simpson

TB Left Fielder #14
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Chandler Simpson is playing left field and hitting seventh against the Guardians on Tuesday in Game 2 of the ALCS.

Even with another left-hander on the mound for the Guardians, the Rays will have Simpson play left field after he sat in the Game 1 loss. Ryan Vilade will open the game on the bench, but likely be used before Tuesday’s game comes to a close, if needed. The full lineup as Tampa Bay looks to avoid an 0-2 hole with Freddy Peralta on the mound for the Rays: Yandy Diaz DH, Jonathan Aranda 1B, Junior Caminero 3B, Victor Mesa Jr. RF, Jonny DeLuca CF, Simpson LF, Ben Williamson 2B, Liam Hicks C and Taylor Walls at shortstop.
- Christopher Crawford

Source: Ryan Bass

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Chris Vallimont

MIN Relief Pitcher #75
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Twins re-signed RHP Chris Vallimont to a minor league contract.

Vallimont, 29, worked mostly as a starter for Double-A Wichita this year, posting a 4.33 ERA and a 68/23 K/BB in 70 2/3 innings. He’s made one major league appearance in his career, getting two outs without allowing a run in a game for the Orioles in 2023.
- Matthew Pouliot

Transaction

Source: Darren Wolfson

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