Players · F · C · 2026
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
- 1.5 3 season(s)
- PA
- 159
- AVG
- .271
- OBP
- .340
- SLG
- .542
- wRC+
- 136 100 = avg
Rafael Flores Jr. is a catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. So far in 2026 he has hit 11 home runs and knocked in 25 RBIs, notching 39 hits across 159 plate appearances in 44 games. His batting average is .271, 11.0% higher than the league average of .244. He reached base at a .340 clip and slugged .542, for an OPS of .881, 22.6% higher than the league mark of .719 — the best on his team, and 12th of 462 among MLB batters with 100+ plate appearances. He averaged 91.0 mph off the bat, hit 47.0% of balls in play at 95 mph or better, barrelled 14.0% of them and made contact on 69.2% of his swings. Adjusted for his ballpark and league, his 136 wRC+ puts his offence 36% above average. That comes to 1.5 dbWAR — +7.7 runs with the bat, -0.4 for the ballpark, -0.2 on the bases, +0.5 on double plays, +1.6 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 terms sum to +14.1 runs, divided by runs-per-win to give WAR. There is no fielding term.
WAR by season
Batting
Standard and advanced, by season.
Pitching
Standard and advanced, by season.
| 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 | 81 | 75 | 20 | 5 | 6 | 23 | .267 | .321 | .520 | .362 | 28.4% |
| 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 100 batted balls…
Contact quality
How hard and at what angle he hits it, over 100 tracked batted balls in 2026. Percentiles are against qualified batters.
- Barrel rate
- 14.0% 14 barrels
- Exit velocity
- 91.0 mph average
- Max exit velo
- 110.2 mph, hardest hit
- Hard hit
- 47.0% 95 mph or better
- Sweet spot
- 39.0% 8–32° launch
- Launch angle
- 12.8° 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 | 159 | — | — | — | — | — | — | .271 | .340 | .542 | .377 |
| Bases empty | 78 | 74 | 20 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 19 | .270 | .308 | .554 | .367 |
| Runner on first | 41 | 35 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 12 | .314 | .415 | .457 | .391 |
| Runners on | 81 | 70 | 19 | 5 | 19 | 11 | 25 | .271 | .370 | .529 | .387 |
| 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.
Head to head
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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.