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Perrotto: Rafael Flores Jr. Surprise of Pirates’ Fine Rookie Group
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- Perrotto: Rafael Flores Jr. Surprise of Pirates’ Fine Rookie Group
Perrotto: Rafael Flores Jr. Surprise of Pirates’ Fine Rookie Group
The Pittsburgh chapter of the Baseball Writers Association will announce its yearly awards this week.
The two biggest ones are easy to predict. Second baseman Brandon Lowe will win the Roberto Clemente Award as the Pittsburgh Pirates ' Most Valuable Player. Right-hander Braxton Ashcraft will lead the voting for the Steve Blass Award, symbolic of the Pirates' best pitcher.
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It would be hard to give those awards to anyone else.
Lowe has been everything the Pirates hoped for when they acquired him from the Tampa Bay Rays last December in a trade. He leads the team with 33 home runs and 93 RBIs while hitting .262/.332/.492 in 145 games. Lowe also has 14 defensive runs saved while adding a dose of quiet professionalism to the clubhouse.
Ashcraft has been outstanding, though he will finish the season on the injured list with arm fatigue. Ashcraft finishes 14-6 with a 3.65 ERA in 28 starts. Granted, pitching wins don't mean as much in this analytically tinged era, but having 14 on a team with a 79-77 record is still aesthetically pleasing to an old head.
One award the Pittsburgh chapter has never instituted is Rookie of the Year. The rationale is that few seasons have multiple rookies making significant contributions. I disagree but also digress.
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Multiple rookies have made an impact this year as the Pirates try to post their first winning season since 2017.
If there were a Rookie of the Year honor, shortstop Konnor Griffin would be the default option. Despite IL stints because of forearm and finger injuries, Griffin is hitting .267/.322/.389 with five home runs and 22 stolen bases in 74 games.
Yet other rookies have shined in 2026.
Right fielder Esmerlyn Valdez has hit 17 homers in 72 games. Right-hander Bubba Chandler is 8-9 with a 4.34 ERA in 30 games but has made steady progress.
Yet there is another, more unheralded player who is staking his claim as the Pirates' top rookie. He is catcher/first baseman Rafael Flores Jr., who is making a huge late-season impression, including hitting a two-run home run in the eighth inning on Sunday to lift the Pirates to a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals and a sweep of the three-game series at PNC Park.
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Flores has homered 10 times in 43 games while batting .286/.354/.586. His defense behind the plate is a work in progress but getting better.
Flores was the headliner in a three-prospect package the Pirates received from the New York Yankees at last year's trade deadline for David Bednar . Many analysts panned the trade, feeling the Pirates could have gotten more for an established closer and also because they felt Flores could not catch in the major leagues.
Baseball America thought so little of Flores that they dropped him from No. 6 in their rankings of the Pirates' prospects at the start of the season to No. 17 in July. Flores, though, never lost confidence in himself, and it only continued to grow in the season's final days.
"I think it's always been there; confidence is what drives me, honestly," Flores said. "Obviously, first getting a chance up here, it's a little tough to be confident. It's a different game. Once you get used to it. Once you get comfortable, it feels like everybody here does a really good job making you feel comfortable and making you feel good, and once you go out there, you have fun. That's what I've been doing lately, just having fun and playing baseball."
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And playing it quite well.
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