A routine grounder brings it all to a halt
Seventeen home runs in 72 games. That was the rookie season Pittsburgh had been waiting years for, and it ended on a ground ball to the right side.
The Pirates placed Esmerlyn Valdez on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a left hamstring strain. Second baseman Ronny Simon came up from Triple-A Indianapolis in the corresponding move.
It happened Friday, sixth inning of a 12-2 loss to the Cubs. Valdez was hustling to beat out a routine grounder. Nothing flashy, just a play he had made hundreds of times since April. That is often how rookie years end.
With roughly 15 games left, Pittsburgh loses the one player who had brought any real life to its summer.
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Seventeen homers from a bat nobody had seen before April
Valdez, 22, finishes at .232 with 17 home runs and 47 RBIs across 72 games. The average is ordinary. The power is not, especially from a player who had never taken a major league at-bat before this season. That is the pace of a middle-of-the-order bat already settling in.
July gave the clearest sign. Valdez took National League Rookie of the Month, which pushed him into the conversation among the league’s best first-year players. Pittsburgh, so used to watching young talent leave before it ever arrives, finally had a piece worth building around.
Simon gets the call, and the lineup gets lighter
Ronny Simon steps into the spot. The 26-year-old went 9 for 32 (.281) with two RBIs across 10 games earlier this season. Nowhere near enough to draw conclusions from, but enough to plug a hole for two weeks.
For bettors, the absence bites hardest in Pirates run totals and home run props. Pull 17 long balls out of an already thin lineup and Pittsburgh’s offensive outlook down the stretch changes shape. Opposing pitching staffs get to breathe a little easier.
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