Players · F · C · 2026 regular season
Rafael Flores Jr.
- Age
- 26
- B/T
- R/R
- Height
- 6' 3"
- Weight
- 232 lb
- Number
- #43
- Born
- November 7, 2000 in Anaheim, CA, United States
- MLB debut
- September 17, 2025
- College
- Rio Hondo JC
- dbWAR
- 1.4 Regular season, 3 season(s)
- PA
- 163
- AVG
- .264
- OBP
- .331
- SLG
- .527
- wRC+
- 129 100 = avg
Rafael Flores Jr. is a catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 2026 he hit 11 home runs and knocked in 25 RBIs, notching 39 hits across 163 plate appearances in 45 games. His batting average was .264, 8.0% higher than the league average of .244. He reached base at a .331 clip and slugged .527, for an OPS of .858, 19.4% higher than the league mark of .719 — the best on his team, and 22nd of 465 among MLB batters with 100+ plate appearances. He averaged 90.7 mph off the bat, hit 45.6% of balls in play at 95 mph or better, barrelled 13.6% of them and made contact on 69.3% of his swings. Adjusted for his ballpark and league, his 129 wRC+ puts his offence 29% above average. That comes to 1.4 dbWAR — +6.6 runs with the bat, -0.4 for the ballpark, -0.2 on the bases, +0.5 on double plays, +1.7 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 regular season.
How the WAR is built
Runs above replacement, 2026. These terms sum to +13.2 runs, divided by runs-per-win to give WAR. There is no fielding term.
WAR by season
Batting Regular season
Standard and advanced, by season. Regular-season games only.
Pitching Regular season
Standard and advanced, by season. Regular-season games only.
| Trend | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | PIT | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3.10 | 2.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 74 | 0.0 | — |
Platoon splits
How he hits left- and right-handed pitching.
| Split | PA | AB | H | HR | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs LHP | 78 | 69 | 19 | 6 | 9 | 21 | .275 | .359 | .565 | .393 | 26.9% |
| vs RHP | 85 | 79 | 20 | 5 | 6 | 24 | .253 | .306 | .494 | .345 | 28.2% |
| Split | PA | AB | H | HR | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs LHB | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .298 | 0.0% |
| vs RHB | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | .447 | 0.0% |
Spray chart
Where every ball he put in play landed, 2026.
Loading 103 batted balls…
Contact quality
How hard and at what angle he hits it, over 103 tracked batted balls in 2026. Percentiles are against qualified batters.
- Barrel rate
- 13.6% 14 barrels
- Exit velocity
- 90.7 mph average
- Max exit velo
- 110.2 mph, hardest hit
- Hard hit
- 45.6% 95 mph or better
- Sweet spot
- 37.9% 8–32° launch
- Launch angle
- 12.4° 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 Rafael Flores Jr. 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 | 163 | — | — | — | — | — | — | .264 | .331 | .527 | .368 |
| Bases empty | 81 | 77 | 20 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 20 | .260 | .296 | .532 | .354 |
| Runner on first | 42 | 36 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 12 | .306 | .405 | .444 | .382 |
| Runners on | 82 | 71 | 19 | 5 | 19 | 11 | 25 | .268 | .366 | .521 | .382 |
| RISP | 40 | 35 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 5 | 13 | .229 | .325 | .600 | .383 |
Runners on includes runners in scoring position, which is the convention every reference uses. Counted from play-by-play, 2026.
Pitch sequencing
What Rafael Flores Jr. throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.
Select a count to see exactly what Rafael Flores Jr. throws in it.
Pitch arsenal
What he throws, how hard, how often it misses, and what hitters do with it.
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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.