10 Observations: Esmerlyn Valdez, Konnor Griffin AA debut, Axiel Plaz

Weekly look around the Pittsburgh Pirates organization

Photo Credit: WTM

WTM 8/18: Apparently, other teams do look at pitch data. If you skim through Savant, you’ll find that just about every Pirate hitter has massive problems with breaking balls. Some, like Oneil Cruz and Nick Gonzalez, actually do OK with offspeed, but breaking stuff is death to just about all of their hitters. Bryan Reynolds even commented recently, when asked post-game why the team hit well at first but then got totally shut down, responded, “They stopped throwing fastballs.”

It doesn’t seem to have escaped anybody’s notice. According to StatCast, the Pirates see easily the fewest fastballs of any MLB team. They see the fourth-most sliders and tenth-most curves, and only the 22nd-most changeups. StatCast also has a “runs against” stat for the different types of pitches. I don’t know enough about it to have an opinion on whether it’s a useful measure, but for what it’s worth, the Pirates are easily MLB’s worst-hitting team against sliders and also the worst against fastballs. They’re the ninth-worst against curves and 12th-best against changeups.

NolaJeffy 8/18: Greensboro and the South Atlantic League are very home run-friendly. Add in some big boppers, and the Greensboro Grasshoppers are having quite the year in the power department. Heading into the week, the Hoppers led the SAL with 150 team home runs, with the Asheville Tourists a distant second at only 90. Greensboro extended its lead, hitting a total of five (155), and Asheville only hit two (92). This should be the third consecutive season that Greensboro hits at least 170 home runs as a team.

Baseball America usually does an end-of-the-year park factors article, and interestingly enough, last year, only five teams in the SAL had above-average HR park factor (100 is average). The teams above 100, though, are well above 100. Greensboro had a 159 HR park factor in 2024. BA also published an article back in January with three-year park factors, which include LH/RH splits across all levels. One interesting note is how awful Altoona’s park is, particularly for left-handed hitters.

Murphy 8/19: I’ll probably go more in-depth with it this week, but Konnor Griffin struggled a bit to begin his time in Double-A, again with breaking pitches on the outer half. In true fashion for him, however, he showed the ability to adjust to it and finished strong. Kid is exceeding every expectation like it is nothing, and is doing it the way you want, facing adversity.

Murphy 8/19: I know all the numbers haven’t been there for Esmerlyn Valdez during his time in Double-A, but there are two noticeable ones that do stand out: contact and swinging strike rate.

Both have improved since jumping up a level. So, while it hasn’t produced the results you want to see, he is going about it the right way, which should lead to a breakthrough.

Murphy 8/20: I’m still in the boat on wanting to see Liover Peguero hit, and less concerned about where he’s playing defensively. Regardless of where he plays, he still needs to be able to hit to keep getting playing time.

And outside of the Colorado series (well, the one Colorado game), it’s still just been more of the same. I’m not sure every day at-bats still unlock anything different in him at the plate.

It’s still weird seeing him as the other end of the Spencer Horwitz platoon, however.

Murphy 8/20: Wilber Dotel hasn’t put up the numbers you’d want out of a top 10 prospect in the system, but he’s still at the point where I’m willing to bet on the stuff to overcome as he continues to learn how to pitch. That’ll make for an interesting decision in the offseason, however, as he is Rule 5 eligible and could make a case he’d be interesting in the bullpen as a reliever, especially with a fastball that can touch triple-digits.

Murphy 8/21: Yonleg Gaetano has had one of the better seasons among the DSL Pirates’ pitchers. He posted an ERA of under one, and struck out 39 batters in 29 innings pitched. He is a bit undersized (listed at 5’10”) and did just turn 20, but it sounds like the Pirates are high on him.

The stuff looked good from the stream, and John Dreker mentioned he’s been sitting 92-95 with the fastball this year. He might be a sneaky pick to go straight to Bradenton next year.

Murphy 8/21: The Pirates were able to get a stream put together for their DSL teams in time for the playoffs. Got to see Darell Morel rip a triple down the right field line. There is a lot of talk about his raw power, but the kid can fly. He was quick around the bases. Oh, and the swing is built for power as he gets older and stronger. I haven’t seen much of Morel, but enough to be excited for him going into 2026.

Murphy 8/21: It took him a bit to get going, but starting to see some of that power from Brent Iredale. After a relatively slow start, Iredale hit three extra-base hits in a two-game span, including a home run to dead center. The system needed a nice injection of power, which seemed like one of their focuses in the draft; Iredale was one of them.

Murphy 8/23: Axiel Plaz finally got on the board for Greensboro this past week, hitting a double and a home run. The power is so easy from Plaz. He’s going to be fun to watch in Greensboro (he plays there for the first time this week, with yours truly in the stands).

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