TORONTO -- The future of the Pirates is arriving in waves these days, and on Sunday, it was Esmerlyn Valdez’s turn for his first big moment wearing the black and yellow.
With Pittsburgh holding on to a lead in the sixth inning of a 4-1 win against the Blue Jays, Valdez gave his club some breathing room with an opposite-field two-run shot for his first career hit and home run.
The 345-foot liner silenced both the home crowd at Rogers Centre and his teammates, as the Pirates’ No. 9 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, arrived back to his dugout after his trip around the bases to his first Major League silent treatment.
As he completed his home run trot, the thought that came to Valdez’s mind was, “Wow, I made it.”
But when he got back to celebrate with his team, the lack of celebration caught him off guard.
“When I came into the dugout, I’m like, ‘Come on guys, what’s happening?’” Valdez said of getting the silent treatment. “Then when they came close to me and gave me the hugs and all that, it felt really good.”
Even if his fellow Pirates in the dugout were giving the rookie his "welcome to the big leagues" moment, the Pittsburgh bullpen, led by reliever Justin Lawrence, went right to work bargaining with the young fan who caught the home run ball in the crowd.
The result of a tough negotiation?
A blockbuster trade: An autographed bat and hat for the milestone baseball.
“Once we found it, the kid came running up, and in my head I was kind of like, ‘Thank goodness it’s a kid, this should be very easy,’” Lawrence said. “[But] right away he goes, ‘I think I’m going to keep it.’”
So, with their work cut out for them, the Pirates had to buckle down to get the deal done, eventually agreeing to terms on the two-for-one swap.
“It’s such a special moment for [Valdez],” Lawrence said. “I don’t know how often a guy gets his first home run ball back, so just having an opportunity to be able to get it for him was awesome.”
Valdez’s blast came as Pittsburgh’s third of the game -- a welcome development after a pair of quiet offensive performances north of the border to open the club’s series against Toronto.
The first of those came off the bat from former Blue Jays 24th-rounder Spencer Horwitz on Dylan Cease’s first pitch of the afternoon, a feat not to be outdone by Oneil Cruz, who followed with a 415-foot homer of his own in the second inning.
“Definitely one of my favorite homers so far,” Horwitz said of his big fly in his first trip back to Toronto. “To be able to do it back here and do it with a team I’m wanted on, it’s definitely great. And it seemed to get the guys going a little bit.”
Pittsburgh recorded just two extra-base hits and four total runs through the first two games of the series, but instead of folding, Pirates hitters delivered a strong response against Cease and Toronto’s bullpen to avoid a series sweep and get back over .500.
“We’ve talked about being able to score early on in games,” manager Don Kelly said. “To get one pitch in and [have Horwitz] hit the ball like that and then Cruz to follow it up and get up 2-0 was really big.”
Perhaps even bigger was the official arrival of an impact bat in Valdez, who finally broke through in a major spot to cap his first weekend in the Majors.
Valdez’s homer was an impressive display of hitting for a prospect who has been billed for his power stroke, taking a 79.5 mph sweeper from sidewinder Chase Lee out to right field.
“He’s got that kind of pop,” Kelly said. “I think to get the one out of the way. You’re always looking for that first one, [now] he can breathe and relax.”
The 22-year-old had gone 0-for-5 with three strikeouts and a walk through his first two games after joining the Pirates’ clubhouse on Friday for his MLB debut. Despite the struggles, he didn’t waver from his day one goal of “going to do my job to help the team win and [continuing] to be the best version of myself.”
Pittsburgh hopes that Valdez's "best" comes with many more swings like Sunday’s.