Esmerlyn Valdez's hot Pirates run just got compared to AL MVP candidate

Once Esmerlyn Valdez got a real shot with the Pittsburgh Pirates, it was immediately clear that it was going to be hard to keep the youngster out of the lineup.

Valdez has patience at the plate, and he has incredible pop, which, when put together, creates a tremendous foundation for offensive excellence. As time has gone on, it seems that even though the initial impressions were positive, Valdez was still underestimated.

The young slugger has only played 28 games, but in that time he's put himself in some seriously impressive company. His early run is strikingly similar to that of Houston Astros superstar Yordan Alvarez during his first 28 games in 2019. Alvarez, of course, is the prime favorite to take home the AL MVP hardware this year, meaning that any comparisons to his lethal offensive skills shouldn't be taken lightly.

Valdez is slashing .309/.371/.713 with 10 homers and 27 RBIs. Alvarez, during the first 28 games of his career, hit .327/.403/.682 with 10 homers and 32 RBIs. Looking at OPS shows just how close to identical those performances are, with Valdez posting a 1.084 mark and Alvarez coming in with a 1.085 OPS.

The similarities don't stop there. Both players did this as 22-year-olds. Both players also have similar body types. Valdez measures in at six-foot-two, 234 pounds, per FanGraphs. Alvarez checks in at 6-foot-4, 237 pounds.

Through the All-Star break, Alvarez is hitting .318/.426/.633 with 31 dingers. He's a career .299/.393/.580 hitter, and is one of the most unique threats in the modern game as a guy who is pretty much guaranteed to hit .300-plus with 30-plus homers per year.

It's not fair to compare Pirates phenom Esmerlyn Valdez to Yordan Alvarez, but there's a blueprint for his success

The biggest difference between Alvarez and Valdez today has to do with strikeouts. The Astros' cornerstone is the rare power hitter who doesn't strike out often. He's at times been described as a premier contact hitter with pop rather than a straight-up slugger. Today he's striking out at a stellar 17.1% clip and owns a 19.4% K-rate for his career. Valdez is striking out at a 36.2% rate. That's a bit scary, but there's a chance it can come down.

During the first 28 games of Alvarez's career, he struck out at a much-more-elevated 27.4% clip. That's still significantly better than what Valdez is doing, but he also made huge strides in reducing his Ks over the years. If Valdez can eventually cut about 10% from his strikeout rate, he'll be in fine shape.

Coming into the 2026 season, a lot of folks forgot how good Alvarez is after an injury-plagued 2025, which was foolish. He belongs on the present-day Mount Rushmore of sluggers alongside Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, and Juan Soto. He's that good.

To expect Valdez to become that kind of bat at the plate is entirely unreasonable. But he doesn't have to reach that same stratosphere to be an incredibly effective hitter. The biggest threat to that is the swing and miss, but as Alvarez has proven, drastic improvement can be made.

Valdez actually shows some solid plate discipline already. He walks at an above-average 9.5% rate, and he has a very solid 24.6% chase rate that ranks as one of the best marks of the game, veterans included. A few tweaks to close a couple of holes in his swing, and we could see that strikeout rate fall and the contact continue to come at an above-average level.

Throw in his penchant for coming through in the clutch, and it's easy to have unbridled optimism about his future and what his ceiling could be. No one has a crystal ball, but if you were to bet on Valdez eventually being considered one of the game's top-tier sluggers, the odds might be in your favor.

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