Esmerlyn Valdez unleashes an "amazing" season, smashing homers and earning a 40-man roster spot. His powerful performance signals a "grown man" ready for spring training.
Esmerlyn Valdez does not need to write a 10-page essay to describe his breakout 2025 season in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ farm system. Three words suffice.
“Amazing. Incredible and fascinating,” the 22-year-old outfielder/first baseman said through team translator Stephen Morales. “Those three words.”
Fascinating? That’s not a word uttered by baseball players very often.
Why fascinating?
“Just because all the hard work that I put in during the offseason,” Valdez said. “It pays during the season, and it always feels good as a player to say that all the work you put in, it paid off.”
Perhaps the best words Valdez heard all year came when the Pirates called in November to say he had been placed on the 40-man roster. That means Valdez will take part in his first major league spring training, which begins on Feb. 11 in Bradenton, Fla.
Pittsburgh wasn't going to risk losing Valdez at the Rule 5 Draft at the Winter Meetings, especially after scouts from the other 29 major-league teams watched him tear it up in the Arizona Fall League.
Valdez made a prediction to some of his teammates in the AFL that the Pirates would let him know he was being put on the 40-man roster while playing video games. Sure enough, Valdez was on his PlayStation at his home in the Dominican Republic when he received the news.
It seemed like he was playing a video game in Arizona. He hit eight home runs in just 19 games and 80 plate appearances while posting a .368/.513/.842 slash line. The performance helped boost Valdez’s reputation as an up-and-coming prospect, and Baseball America ranks him No. 11 in Pittsburgh's system.
“It felt really good, and I just went there with the mentality of earned trust, earned my spot, and represented the Pirates real well,” Valdez said.
It’s safe to assume that Valdez gained the Pirates’ trust during the regular season. In 123 games with Double-A Altoona and High-A Greensboro, Valdez hit .286/.376/.520 with 26 homers. A year earlier, Valdez homered 22 times in 107 games with Bradenton, though he batted just .226/.352/.464.
“I felt more prepared, ready, and I felt like a man,” Valdez said of the difference between 2024 and 2025. “Like that stage of a grown man playing baseball in Double-A.”
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