While the Pirates’ first workout for pitchers and catchers isn’t until Feb. 11, it’s common for some players to report to Pirate City earlier. Whether it’s because they’re rehabbing, they’re going to play in the World Baseball Classic and have an earlier workout schedule or just wanting more time around coaches and teammates, there are plenty of reasons for a player to report early.
Rookie catcher Rafael Flores falls in that last category. He got to work in Bradenton, Fla., on Jan. 11 -- a month before that first workout -- in part because there are plenty of pitchers he still needs to get to know after being acquired at the Trade Deadline last year.
“I've been catching everybody,” Flores said at PiratesFest last weekend. “I've been around [2025 first-round pick] Seth Hernandez a lot, and it's good to kind of get out there and meet all the staff and get familiar with a lot of the guys. I mean, I'm going to be there till the end of Spring Training, so it's good to get a head start.”
Time will tell how big of an impact Flores -- the club’s No. 9 prospect on MLB Pipeline’s 2025 rankings -- makes on the Major League team in 2026 and how much that extra work will pay off for the organization’s pitchers. What we do know is the Pirates are already high on Flores, being comfortable making him the headliner in last July’s trade that sent David Bednar to the Yankees.
We also know the Pirates could use a boost at catcher. Joey Bart’s OPS dropped over 100 points from 2024 to ‘25 to .695. Henry Davis has grown into a strong defensive catcher and game-caller, but he has not hit consistently in the Majors. If the Pirates are to take a leap in 2026, getting more out of their backstops would go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.
While the Pirates haven’t done much at catcher this offseason, there is a chance their Major League catcher room looks quite different in 2026 because of Flores and the return of Endy Rodríguez.
Of the two, Rodríguez is the more well-known to Pirates fans, even if he hasn’t seen the field enough. Two elbow injuries and subsequent surgeries kept him out of the Majors in 2024 and limited him to just 18 games in ‘25.
If healthy, Rodríguez has the talent to be an impact player for the 2026 club. And if you want to look at the glass half full, his rehab has gone well.
“The arm has been solid,” Rodríguez said at PiratesFest. “So it’s about the same, I would say. It’s been pretty consistent. So we can’t worry about if I’m going to be a catcher now.”
For those who see the glass as half empty, there are two obvious red flags. One is his lack of playing time the last two years, accumulating just 127 competitive plate appearances between the Majors and Minors. That’s a lot of missed potential development.
The other is wondering whether he will be able to stay healthy, though Rodríguez has worked to try to stay on the field.
“I keep doing all my stuff,” Rodríguez said. “I think it’s just bad luck. The job I’ve been doing, all my recovery stuff, body, everything. I’ve tried to be even more healthy. So I think just waiting for that and waiting until everything changes.”
That’s what makes Flores such an intriguing factor this Spring Training. He’s the least proven of the four and is the only one of the group who wasn’t a Top 100 prospect, but he had quite the rise last year, starting in Double-A and finishing the season in the Majors. Along the way, he had an .824 OPS and 22 home runs in the Minors.
He’s going to have to earn his spot on the team and his keep, but that’s nothing new for Flores.
“Competing is what drives me,” Flores said. “I have this saying that -- it's going to be on my catcher's gear this year, but 'I have a lot of shoulder on my chip.' So it's just reversed. But I've had that forever. I'm a JUCO [junior college] guy. I love to compete. I love to compete against other people. So if I can keep that mentality, I'm going to be successful.”