Pirates keep dodging the one decision fans are begging for

Mesa Solar Sox v Salt River Rafters | Brandon Sloter/GettyImagesPittsburgh Pirates prospect Esmerlyn Valdez, who surged in 2025 with emerging power and better contact quality, sits squarely in the Rule 5 gray area: talented enough that other teams will notice, but still young and raw enough that he’s not obviously MLB-ready.

But the Rule 5 Draft forces teams to make binary choices. Protecting Valdez now means committing a 40-man spot to a player who has never played above Double-A. Leaving him exposed means risking losing him for virtually nothing.

Pirates director of coaching and player development Michael Chernow believes “you can never have enough at-bats,” according to Alex Stumpf of…