Taking a look at hitters Pirates are sending to Arizona Fall League

This story was excerpted from Alex Stumpf’s Pirates Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

WASHINGTON -- There’s still Major League baseball to be played over the coming weeks, but Minor League seasons are starting to wrap. The High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers and Double-A Altoona Curve have already punched tickets to play in the postseason, and some of those players have post-postseason ball in sight, too.

The Pirates are sending eight players to the Arizona Fall League this year: outfielder/first baseman Esmerlyn Valdez (No. 15 on MLB Pipeline’s list of top Pirates prospects), first baseman Tony Blanco Jr. (No. 30), right-handed pitcher Derek Diamond, right-hander Joshua Loeschorn, left-hander Dominic Perachi, right-hander Carlson Reed, outfielder Will Taylor and left-hander Jaden Woods.

While it’s an interesting group of pitchers, the hitters have some intrigue about them, and it makes sense why the Pirates would want them to get some extra swings. Let’s take a closer look at those three batters.

Esmerlyn Valdez (No. 15 prospect)
Two of the most common reasons a player gets an AFL invite is because they either missed time during the season and they need to make up reps, or because they are Rule 5 eligible and they want to get one last look before making a decision.

Valdez falls in the latter camp. He’s had a big season, ending Friday hitting .289 with 26 home runs and a .901 OPS between Greensboro and Altoona, and he’s made a big jump this year by cutting down on his strikeouts. He’s only 21 years old, so there is room for growth still, and the Pirates have seen development this year.

“He’s become more of a complete hitter,” hitting development coordinator Jonathan Johnston said. “He showed a lot of power in [Single-A] Bradenton last year, and then in Greensboro, one of the challenges of being in Greensboro is that power can be sneaky. It can be a mirage a little bit because it’s Greensboro and it’s a smaller ballpark. He and the hitting coaches in Greensboro did a good job staying grounded with what he needed to do to get to the next level and beyond. Getting here [in Altoona], he really realized that and doubled down on the stuff that he’d been doing. He’s settled in nicely.”

Time will tell if he gets his contract selected this winter, but he’ll get another chance to make his case.

Tony Blanco Jr. (No. 30 prospect)
Want to talk about power? He hit a walk-off homer in August that left the bat at 119.8 mph, the hardest hit ball ever tracked by a Minor Leaguer. Injuries limited him to only 30 games this year, but he still managed to homer eight times.

There was just one problem with his season: it was too short. The AFL is an opportunity to get those extra swings.

“It feels like the sky’s the limit for him,” Marauders manager Jim Horner said in August. “His biggest thing, for me, is he just needs to play games. He needs to stay on the field, stay healthy.”

Will Taylor (unranked)
Taylor was one of the Draft’s top prospects in 2021, but opted to be a two-sport athlete at Clemson and saw his stock take a hit after tearing his ACL playing football. The Pirates ended up getting him in the fifth round in 2024 and he had a strong season at the plate, slashing .262/.373/.458 with 14 home runs and 23 stolen bases for Bradenton and Greensboro.

The Fall League is an opportunity to see how he handles the extra level of competition and how he will hold up over another month of baseball. He played in just 93 games this year, and given his injury history, getting extra reps is important.

Taylor made 64 starts for Greensboro, so that could be enough of a sample size to get him to Altoona early next season. The Pirates are in need of impact bats, and while he shouldn’t be on the radar for 2026, a strong showing in the AFL could help get him into the upper-half of the farm system.