The Pirates’ AAA affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians, kicked off their season this week as one of the most interesting minor league teams in baseball to watch. The Indians are chalk full of some high level prospects on both the hitting and pitching side of things. The most exciting guy in the minors, Konnor Griffin, was called up to the majors to make his debut today after posting an absurd 1.196 OPS during his cup of coffee in AAA. However, today we are focusing on his other teammates who will be spending more than one week in Indianapolis this season.
Esmerlyn Valdez
I have a good feeling that I am going to be writing a lot about Esmerlyn this season. The Pirates were extremely aggressive by promoting the 22 year old to AAA after a mere 51 games last season, and he has certainly shown early that he belongs. He posted a slash line of .222/.440/.444 for an OPS of .884 and a wRC+ of 152. He also only struck out at a mere 8% clip while walking over 20% of the time. The two biggest indicators of success for me for a prospect are the ability to hit the ball hard and to avoid heavy whiff issues. In this small sample size Esmerlyn has succeeded greatly in both of these accounts. This fantastic start to the season was capitalized by a blistering 113 mph home run Valdez hit on March 31st. Esmerlyn is poised to be a very popular breakout prospect pick among the prospect nerd community and a guy everyone should be looking out for.
Ronny Simon
Ronny came over to the Pirates after the Marlins DFA’d him after his infamous three-error game. He appeared briefly in 2025 for the Bucs but didn’t do anything impressive to make him a serious contender for the Opening Day roster. He has gotten off on the right foot to start this season; like Valdez, he is walking more than he is striking out and has put together a very encouraging .357/.444/.429 slash line that is good for an .884 OPS and a 143 wRC+. Simon loves hitting the ball to all corners of the park and has used his slapstick approach to bully AAA pitchers in the past week. Simon has a very tough path to a major league roster spot with guys like Billy Cook, Jhostynxon Garcia, and Esmerlyn all knocking at the door, but if this is the kind of value he keeps providing, he can be a good placeholder in case someone like Jake Mangum has to head to the IL.
Next Friday we’ll have more coverage from all over the minors and not just AAA as the other affiliates begin their seasons. However, being able to identify a potential breakout star like Valdez is an incredible thing for the Pirates to have this early in the season.
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