Rafael Flores Jr. Is Forcing His Way Into the Pirates’ Future

- Rafael Flores Jr. didn't exactly have the greatest entrance to the Pirates organization. Not a lot of people were fans of the David Ben-Nard trade whenever it happened.

Rafael Flores Jr. didn't exactly have the greatest entrance to the Pirates organization. Not a lot of people were fans of the David Ben-Nard trade whenever it happened.

the Pirates already had a couple catchers on their 40-man roster, and now you're giving up a closer for another one.

I got the frustration.

And there are still a lot of things that I personally want to see with him defensively before I feel comfortable declaring him the catcher of the future.

But the dude can hit. And he made an impact on Wednesday that we have never seen in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Good morning. welcome to OffBeat here on North Shore Nine presented by FanDuel.

My name is Alex Stumpf and this is a daily look at your Pittsburgh Pirates.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Rafael Flores Jr. is the first player in Pirates history to come off the bench and hit two home runs in the game.

And they were big home runs.

He ended a game whenever the Pirates are trailing three to one.

He goes deep. It's like, okay, that's a record-setting homer for PNC Park.

It's the 82nd home run of the year.

Most in stadium history. Makes it a one-run ballgame.

Okay, good swing.

Then in the ninth, a potential future Hall of Famer in Kenley Jansen on the mound.

And the rookie takes another cutter deep and ties the game up.

Bilal, he goes deep a little later.

Pirates end up winning that game that they probably had no business winning.

They stole that one and they desperately need every win they can get right now.

They do not win that game without Rafael Flores Jr.

And we could debate, like, did the David Bednar trade help the 2026 Pirates?

I think pretty definitively.

We could say no. Pretty definitively.

It did not help the 2026 Pirates.

But it could the 2027 Pirates and beyond.

Because he's young, he's controllable, and he's here right now.

There's a lot about his offensive game that I like.

The thing that's impressed me the most, honestly, is whenever you have a young player come up from AAA and hit, it's usually they're just catching up to the fastball.

they're just, they've seen 98 from some guys in AAA.

They're like, okay, I can still hit 98.

And they just run into a few.

like what we saw with, Esmerlyn Valdez, early in the year.

And that's valid. That's cool.

Those count all the same.

But I take a lot of stock whenever a rookie comes up and they crush the secondary pitches.

He has a 278 batting average and 667 slugging percentage against breaking balls and a 333 batting average and a 133 slugging percentage against off-speed.

Not a huge sample size, I get, but just look at your, just watch.

He's staying back.

He is staying within himself, within his swing.

I don't think that's something he did all the time in Indianapolis.

In fact, he talked about it after the game on Wednesday.

About how he is trying to do that less is more right now.

he's simplified some things with his mechanics, with his approach.

And it's translating.

And we've seen now, already, two multi-homer games, excuse me, from the rookie.

There is something here.

And there always has been.

Whenever the Pirates made the trade, I was talking to league sources, like, hey, scouts, analysts, just try to get a general gist of the guy.

And a couple people that I really trust.

And he said, hey, he can hit.

And whenever you say that, it's like, okay, well, he's a catcher.

You mean he hits well for a catcher.

And they're like, no, if he went to first base, he would probably hit enough to hit at first base.

It's like, okay, that's something.

That's something.

And what he has done so far, I would not mind if he is.

A small part of the first base plan for next year.

Next year, I think you really have to put O'Hearn at first a whole lot more next year.

It's not lost on me that Ryan O'Hearn played a lot of first base, in Baltimore, all-star there.

He could play some outfield.

He played some outfield.

I think he got overexposed in Pittsburgh.

And it's not lost on me that he had two leg injuries this year because he was playing the outfield and Horwitz was at first base and because they had to keep a zoon in the lineup to be a DH.

O'Hearn never really had these type of quad injuries before.

I think you have to take that into consideration whenever you're building this 2027 club.

Of, hey, Horwitz, obviously a really good player.

O'Hearn, obviously a really good player.

You've got a first base spot.

You've got a DH.

I think that should be them most of the next year.

O'Hearn could play some outfield still.

But I would more eyeball, like, he's out there once a week rather than earlier this year whenever he'd be five or six times a week.

Find a way to manage him.

So, in that way, I don't know how much opportunity there is at first base.

But then I look at catcher.

And Henry Davis, I think, is what we've seen this year might be just what Henry Davis is, a good defensive catcher.

Someone who the pitching staff really likes throwing to.

Great game planner.

Can call a good game.

Do those type things.

And then the offensive contributions are what they are.

He has the potential to run into a couple.

And, he'll probably hit 10 home runs at the end of the year.

But more defensive-minded catcher.

Then you've got Endy Rodríguez, who is on the injured list with the hip.

My spidey sense is starting to get worried, especially whenever the Pirates acquire a 34-year-old journeyman backup, Christian Betancourt.

Acquired him from the Yankees on Wednesday for cash considerations.

And they announced he is going to be on the taxi squad in Los Angeles this weekend.

Spidey sense is tingling right now.

Endy Rodríguez is getting some second opinions, later this week.

And we're going to see the severity of that hip, what needs to be done, how long he is going to be out.

I don't think they make – I could see them making that trade just as is.

Making the trade and announce he's going on the taxi squad is a bit of an eyebrow raiser.

So it's like, okay, catching opportunity right now.

I haven't been impressed with Flores behind the plates.

I'm sorry, I just haven't.

I think there's a lot that he needs to do as a receiver, as a thrower controlling the running game.

I think call in a game, I think he's done pretty well.

I'll give him flowers there.

But in terms of, like, the actual mechanics, being a good defensive catcher, he's not there.

And whenever it was Henry Davis, he just spent the winter in Florida.

And he worked with Mike Rebella, who was there at the time, Jordan Comedina, the catching coach up at the major league level.

And they just really went through a boot camp.

And he got a whole lot better at receiving over the course of that winter.

And he'd be like, okay, just do that for Flores.

It's going to be tougher with a lockout.

Like, Flores does a lot of things that you want from catchers.

He was one of the first guys at Pirate City.

like, he spent a lot of time in the winter to do that because he's like, hey, I'm new to the organization.

I've got to catch these guys.

I've got to see what Jared Jones has, what Carmen Mlodzinski has, what all these guys have in person.

And I appreciate that hustle.

That's good hustle.

That's a good work ethic.

I'm not surprised at all.

like, that will suit him well in the long term.

He needs to become a better receiver.

If he is able to become a better receiver, what we see offensively, it's like, yeah, that's the catcher of the future then.

It's the defensive questions right now.

But the bat, the bat's the lead here.

There's no other way around it.

The bat is what is carrying his value.

His war is going to come from his offense first.

And that's fine.

Even with a team that has this young pitching staff that's going to be relying on them for the next couple years, you can have an offensive-minded catcher.

He's still pitcher-focused.

He's still learning.

He's still trying to find ways to get the most out of his guys.

As long as he has that, sure.

That's fine.

But he has to grow defensively because this is a really important position that the Pirates don't have a clear answer for.

Endy Rodríguez's health is at a point that, even though I really like what he did at the plate this year, the injury history makes you wonder how much faith can you ever put in this guy?

Can you ever fully trust him, whenever you're building a team and it's January, February?

Be like, yeah, and he's going to just be the starting catcher.

He'll go 110 games.

Will Henry Davis ever hit enough for one to play 110 games, 100 games?

I don't know for either of them.

We've seen the Pirates develop catchers defensively.

If they could make Henry Davis into a good defensive catcher, I don't see any reason why they can't with Rafael Flores Jr.

But that's still easier said than done.

And until you actually see it's still hypothetical.

But I see these at-bats.

I see the way that he's approaching each swing, the way he's attacking, just putting barrel to bat, and how he's not getting ahead of himself, especially against those breaking pitches, those high spin pitches.

His two homers were cutters.

Yeah, that'll fall into the fastball category, but they're banking on movement.

And he read it, and he put the barrel to it.

You don't see that from rookies.

It's a rookie against Kenley Jansen, who I know, not his best year, but he's probably going to go in Cooperstown one day.

For him to do that, to hit the third rung of the rotunda, my goodness, how do you see that swing and not think this guy could be part of the future?

Future is now, I'm looking to see what his playing time looks like.

it would make sense for Horwitz, for him to platoon at first base, get Horwitz those days off.

He could catch some.

If you want him to DH, that's fine.

If Bethencourt is selected to the roster, then I think he could be a lot more aggressive with having Flores DH or play first base or do ways to get a good right-handed bat into the lineup against left-handed starting pitching,

which we know has been a huge issue with this team this year.

There are ways that you can do it.

I would like to see him be part of that lefty plan right now.

Give him those at-bats.

See how far he can go, because this is an offense right now that needs contributions from everyone.

That can include him.

Flores was asked after the game, like, hey, that's two multi-homer games for you.

What's the secret?

And he gave credit to Ryan O'Hearn.

He's like, O'Hearn says, like, hey, if you hit a home run, next at-bat.

No, you didn't.

Don't go to that at-bat thinking, I've already hit a home run.

Treat it like a regular bat.

It's not lost on me that O'Hearn has had a couple really good performances this year, especially multi-homer, delivering whenever there is an opportunity late.

It may be produced early, but it's like he's just going to go through.

He can come through again.

If Flores is able to adopt that also and apply it the way that we've seen, maybe he can be an O'Hearn-type hitter.

And look, whenever you look at this club, if you could have, like, a right-handed Ryan O'Hearn production-wise, that'd be huge.

And if it could be at a position that you haven't had any clarity for ever since Francisco Cervelli, it would be even bigger.

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