RF · 2026
Esmerlyn Valdez
- Age
- 22
- B/T
- R/R
- Height
- 6' 2"
- Weight
- 234 lb
- Number
- #55
- Born
- January 27, 2004 in San Juan La Maguana, Dominican Republic
- MLB debut
- May 22, 2026
- dbWAR
- 1.7 1 season(s)
- PA
- 197
- AVG
- .242
- OBP
- .371
- SLG
- .571
- wRC+
- 153 100 = avg
Esmerlyn Valdez is a right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 2026 he hit 14 home runs and knocked in 38 RBIs, notching 39 hits across 197 plate appearances in 50 games. His batting average was .242, 0.6% lower than the league average of .244. He reached base at a .371 clip and slugged .571, for an OPS of .942, 30.9% higher than the league mark of .719 — the best on his team, and the third best among MLB batters with 100+ plate appearances. He averaged 91.8 mph off the bat, hit 50.0% of balls in play at 95 mph or better, barrelled 21.1% of them and made contact on 58.7% of his swings. Adjusted for his ballpark and league, his 153 wRC+ puts his offence 53% above average. That comes to 1.7 dbWAR — +13.7 runs with the bat, -0.7 on the bases, -2.5 for the position he plays, against replacement level. It includes no fielding: defensive runs are proprietary and are not estimated here, so the figure credits playing a demanding position but not playing it well.
League context
Percentile among qualified batters, 2026.
How the WAR is built
Runs above replacement, 2026. These four terms sum to +17.0 runs, divided by runs-per-win to give WAR.
Platoon splits
How he hits left- and right-handed pitching.
| Split | PA | AB | H | HR | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs LHP | 70 | 55 | 15 | 7 | 15 | 21 | .273 | .429 | .764 | .491 | 30.0% |
| vs RHP | 127 | 106 | 24 | 7 | 18 | 52 | .226 | .339 | .472 | .353 | 40.9% |
Spray chart
Where every ball he put in play landed, 2026.
Loading 90 batted balls…
Contact quality
How hard and at what angle he hits it, over 90 tracked batted balls in 2026. Percentiles are against qualified batters.
- Barrel rate
- 21.1% 19 barrels
- Exit velocity
- 91.8 mph average
- Max exit velo
- 112.7 mph, hardest hit
- Hard hit
- 50.0% 95 mph or better
- Sweet spot
- 35.6% 8–32° launch
- Launch angle
- 21.4° average
A barrel is a batted ball whose exit velocity and launch angle have historically produced at least a .500 average and 1.500 slugging — 98 mph within 26–30°, widening to 8–50° by 116 mph. Reconstructed from Statcast's published anchor points, which reproduces them exactly; the interior is within a degree. Sweet spot (8–32°) is an exact definition.
Hot and cold zones
Batting average by pitch location, 2026.
Situational hitting
How Esmerlyn Valdez hits by base state, outs, score and late-game pressure — each read against his own season line.
| Situation | PA | AB | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All situations | 197 | — | — | — | — | — | — | .242 | .371 | .571 | .402 |
| Bases empty | 98 | 85 | 19 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 44 | .224 | .327 | .506 | .360 |
| Runner on first | 53 | 42 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 20 | .214 | .377 | .548 | .401 |
| Runners on | 99 | 76 | 20 | 8 | 32 | 21 | 29 | .263 | .414 | .645 | .443 |
| RISP | 46 | 34 | 11 | 4 | 22 | 10 | 9 | .324 | .457 | .765 | .492 |
Runners on includes runners in scoring position, which is the convention every reference uses. Counted from play-by-play, 2026.
Batting
Standard and advanced, by season.
| Trend | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 50 | 197 | 39 | 14 | 38 | 0 | 33 | 73 | .242 | .371 | .571 | .329 | .329 | 16.8% | 37.1% | .402 | +13.7 | 153 | 1.7 | — |
Head to head
Put Esmerlyn Valdez beside up to three others.
Similar players
Nearest 2026 seasons by discipline, contact, power and speed, on rate statistics rather than totals.
wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.