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Top 5 unranked prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates' farm system

These Pirates prospects aren't on any major prospect lists, but they have the potential to be a part of the team's future.

ByNoah Wright|
Pitcher Gavin Adams delivers the ball during District 12 3A championship high school baseball action as St. John Paul II hosted American Heritage in Boca Raton, Fla., on Thursday, April 29, 2021.
Pitcher Gavin Adams delivers the ball during District 12 3A championship high school baseball action as St. John Paul II hosted American Heritage in Boca Raton, Fla., on Thursday, April 29, 2021. | THOMAS CORDY via Imagn Content Services, LLC
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Esmerlyn Valdez

The Pirates signed Esmerlyn Valdez in January of 2021 out of the Dominican Republic. The outfielder/first baseman got his first extended look at playing time this year in his age-20 campaign at Single-A Bradenton. Valdez showed some improvement on some of his obvious flaws throughout the season and ended the season on a high note.

Valdez turned in a quality .226/.352/.464 triple-slash in 435 plate appearances. He showed off some power potential, going yard 22 times with a barrel rate over 11%, resulting in an isolated slugging percentage of .237. Valdez also drew walks at a healthy 13.6% rate. He had the best ISO and the 20th-best walk rate among A-Ball hitters with at least 400 plate appearances. But this came at the cost of strikeouts, as he went down on strike three over 30% of the time (30.6% to be exact). All of this amounted to a .384 wOBA and 132 wRC+. 

As stated earlier, Valdez ended the year on a high note. From July through the end of the season, he batted .211/.357/.507 with a .394 wOBA, and 139 wRC+. He cut his strikeout rate down to 23.9% while maintaining a strong 15.3% walk rate. He was also producing more power, upping his ISO from .199 to .297 during the month of July.

To Valdez’s credit, he improved his ability to make contact in the second half of the year. Going into July, Valdez had a whiff rate of 35.7%. However, after that, he cut it to 29.5%. This helped him slash his strikeout rate from 35.1% to 23.9%. Keep in mind that the average whiff rate at the A-Ball level in 2024 was 28.9%, while the league average strikeout rate is 25%.

Valdez will likely start the 2025 season at Greensboro, where he will look to continue to improve his game like he did during the second half of last season. If he can refine his hit tool, he might be a potential long-term answer for the Pirates at first base. Valdez certainly has the power and if he can make some contact against more advanced pitching, he’ll start getting more recognition. He is already on some radars, as Ercolani wasn’t the only prospect identified by FanGraphs to have top-100 prospect potential.

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