Esmerlyn Valdez of the Pittsburgh Pirates named the National League Rookie of the Month for July; Chase Delauter of the Cleveland Guardians named the American League Rookie of the Month of July

Outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez of the Pittsburgh Pirates has been voted the National League Rookie of the Month for July, and outfielder Chase DeLauter of the Cleveland Guardians has been voted the American League Rookie of the Month for July. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.
Valdez received his first career award and is the 10th Pirates rookie to earn the honor along with Garrett Jones (July 2009); Jason Bay (3x: June, July & September 2004); Zach Duke (2x: July & August 2005); Pedro Alvarez (September 2010); Gerrit Cole (September 2013); Jung Ho Kang (July 2015); Austin Meadows (May 2018); Ke’Bryan Hayes (September 2020); and Paul Skenes (September 2024). DeLauter also earned his first career award, becoming Cleveland’s third rookie to receive the honor, joining Steven Kwan (2x: April & September/October 2022) and Joey Cantillo (September 2025).

Esmerlyn Valdez, Pittsburgh Pirates (@esmerlynvaldez27)
The 22-year-old hit .250 (23-for-92) with eight homers, 25 RBI, five doubles, a triple, 15 walks, 17 runs scored, a .587 slugging percentage and a .355 on-base percentage in 25 games.
The San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic native led all qualified rookies in homers, slugging, total bases (54) and extra-base hits (14); tied for first in RBI and walks; and ranked third in runs and OPS (.942).
Valdez became one of three Pirates rookies to record at least 25 RBI in a single month, joining Wally Westlake’s 29 RBI in July 1947 and Pedro Alvarez’s 26 RBI in his Rookie of the
Month-winning September 2010.
Valdez’s 25 RBI in July matched fellow rookie Sal Stewart for most in all of MLB. He became the first Pirate to either lead or finish tied for the Major League-lead in RBI in a calendar month since Josh Bell did so with 31 RBI in May 2019.
Valdez became one of six rookies in Club history to record eight-or-more homers in a month, joining Dick Stuart (August 1958); Brandon Moss (August 2008); Andrew McCutchen (August 2009); Garrett Jones (July 2009); and Jack Suwinski (July 2026).

Chase DeLauter, Cleveland Guardians (@chasedelauter)
The 24-year-old hit .298 (28-for-94) with four homers, 14 RBI, six doubles, 11 walks, 12 runs scored, a .489 slugging percentage and a .368 on-base percentage in 24 games.
The Frederick, Maryland native paced all qualified rookies in hits; ranked third in total bases; tied for third in extra-base hits; ranked fifth in RBI; sixth in batting average; and eighth in OPS (.857).
The 16th overall selection in the 2022 Draft recorded 26 multi-hit games before the All-Star break, marking the most by a Guardians rookie since Paul Dade had 27 in 1977. His 26 multi-
hit games before the break tied for fifth-most in Club history.
In May, DeLauter joined Chris Chambliss (June 1971); Joe Charboneau (August 1980); Jody Gerut (June 2003); Ben Francisco (June 2008) and Steven Kwan (September 2022) as the only Guardians rookies to post a month of at least 28 hits, 14 RBI and 11 walks in the Divisional Era (since 1969), and following his month of July, became the first rookie to do so in multiple months.
The James Madison University product reached base safely in a career-best 18 consecutive games from July 4th-28th, and his two 11-game hitting streaks this season, with the most recent coming from June 6th-July 2nd, are the longest such streaks among all Guardians hitters.

Others receiving votes for NL Rookie of the Month included outfielder Cole Carrigg (.324, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 6 2B, 2 3B, 6 BB, 18 R, .549 SLG) of the Colorado Rockies; starting pitchers Shane Drohan (3-2, 4.00 ERA, 6 GS, 36.0 IP, 32 H, 7 BB, 37 SO) and Logan Henderson (3-0, 2.57 ERA, 4 GS, 21.0 IP, 13 H, 3 BB, 24 SO), and shortstop Cooper Pratt (.329, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 3 2B, 1 3B, 12 BB, 14 R, .420 OBP) of the Milwaukee Brewers; All-Star starting pitcher Foster Griffin (4-1, 3.48 ERA, 5 GS, 31.0 IP, 32 H, 5 BB, 18 SO) of the Washington Nationals, starting pitcher Nolan McLean (2-2, 1.78 ERA, 5 GS, 30.1 IP, 25 H, 9 BB, 35 SO) of the New York Mets; and All-Star infielder Sal Stewart (.250, 7 HR, 25 RBI, 4 2B, 8 BB, 13 R, .510 SLG) of the Cincinnati Reds.

Others receiving votes for AL Rookie of the Month included starting pitcher Jake Bennett (4-1, 2.20 ERA, 5 GS, 32.2 IP, 25 H, 4 BB, 21 SO) of the Boston Red Sox; infielder Hao-Yu Lee (.296, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 4 2B, 3 BB, 8 R, .537 SLG) and All-Star infielder Kevin McGonigle of the Detroit Tigers (.293, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 2 2B, 13 BB, 9 R, .446 SLG); DeLauter’s rookie teammate, All-Star starting pitcher Parker Messick (1-1, 1.48 ERA, 4 GS, 24.1 IP, 16 H, 7 BB, 16 SO); All-Star first baseman Munetaka Murakami (.258, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 5 2B, 14 BB, 16 R, .532 SLG) of the Chicago White Sox; and starting pitcher Walbert Ureña (1-1, 1.25 ERA, 4 GS, 21.1 IP, 10 H, 12 BB, 19 SO) of the Los Angeles Angels.