Optioned Pirates Players to Watch Later

The Pittsburgh Pirates entered Spring Training with a boatload of players, like every team. However, only 26 get to make the Opening Day roster. Many of the players who went into camp with the Bucs were only prospects. Since the start of the pre-season, the Pirates have optioned a handful of players to the minor leagues to start the year. That doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of them. There are a handful of players the Pirates sent down that fans can’t wait to see return to the big-league club later this year.

Optioned Pirates Players to Watch Later

Brandan Bidois

Brandan Bidois getting sent to minor league camp was certainly a questionable decision by the Pirates. The Australian right-hander had a massive breakout campaign in 2025. He pitched 61 innings between all four full-season levels of the minor leagues, working to the tune of a 0.74 ERA, 2.44 FIP, and 0.80 WHIP. Bidois was the only minor league hurler with a sub-1.00 ERA and WHIP in at least 60 IP. He also had a healthy 30% K% and allowed no home runs. The only blemish on Bidois’ 2025 report card was his 11.7% walk rate.

Bidois earned himself a 40-man roster spot and protection from the Rule 5 draft after that performance. He then entered Spring Training and fired off 2.2 scoreless and hitless frames with a trio of strikeouts and just one walk allowed. The hard-throwing right-hander has regularly been at the top of Stuff+ models throughout Spring Training, and it’s not without merit.

Bidois averaged out at 96 MPH with less than ten inches of vertical break, giving his four-seamer an elite ride through the zone. His low-90s change-up had over a foot of horizontal arm-side movement. Bidois’ upper-80s slider also grades out well by Stuff+ metrics. Very few Pirates hurlers have as good a pitch quality as Bidois has. He should get his first taste of Major League action later this year and has the potential to take over a high-leverage role in the Bucs’ bullpen.

Endy Rodriguez

Optioning Endy Rodriguez wasn’t a massively popular decision by the Pirates. Rodriguez has hit very well in Spring Training. The switch-hitting backstop/first baseman has eight hits in 30 plate appearances. Of those eight hits, two were home runs, and another was a double. Rodriguez also drew four walks. Rodriguez out-hit all other Pirates catchers by a mile. Joey Bart, Henry Davis, and Rafael Flores Jr. all combined for just ten knocks and one home run in the pre-season.

However, the decision is likely for the better. Rodriguez has barely played the last two seasons. He appeared in just ten rehab games in 2024, recovering from Tommy John surgery in December 2023. The backstop then played just 26 games (18 in the Major Leagues, 8 in the minor leagues) due to elbow problems, which led to yet another surgery. The Pirates need to re-evaluate what they have with Rodriguez, and they can’t do a good job of that by giving him infrequent playing time at the Major League level.

However, Rodriguez will surely get a look later in the year. The Pirates could trade Joey Bart during the first half of 2026. Rodriguez also brings a better glove behind the plate and similar utility as Flores Jr. If Davis doesn’t improve his hitting, he may start to see playing time slip away to Rodriguez or another backstop the Pirates have. The biggest thing Rodriguez needs to prove early in 2026 is that he is 100% healthy and can stay that way.

Esmerlyn Valdez

The Pirates were last in the league in home runs by a lightyear. They belted just 117 long balls. The second-fewest in baseball was 148, by the St. Louis Cardinals. However, the Pirates have multiple up-and-coming power hitters in their minor league system. One is outfielder/first baseman Esmerlyn Valdez. Valdez followed up his 22-homer/123-wRC+ 2024 campaign with an even bigger encore. Valdez turned in a .286/.376/.520 triple-slash with a .412 wOBA, and 155 wRC+ over 529 plate appearances between High-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona. He swatted 26 home runs with a .234 isolated slugging percentage. Valdez improved his strikeout and contact rate from just 30.6% and 69.5% in 2024 to 24.6% and 72.4%, respectively. He also owned a solid 10.6% walk rate. Valdez did all of this in just his age-21 season. 

Valdez continued to rake in Spring Training with the Bucs. In 23 plate appearances, he racked up five hits, including a home run and a double. Valdez only struck out four times and drew five walks. He tore the cover off the ball as well. His exit velocity clocked in at an impressive 91.5 MPH. Plus, he did not swing and miss very often. Valdez’s whiff rate came in at just 25.7%. His overall contact rate was 77.1% in the small sample.

The Pirates’ outfield depth chart is already deep. Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, and Ryan O’Hearn make up the Pirates’ primary three outfielders. They also have Jake Mangum and Jhostynxon Garcia (who is gunning for an Opening Day roster spot himself). Like Bidois, the Pirates also added Valdez to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. However, it’s hard to deny him an eventual promotion to the Major Leagues. That is especially true if he keeps hitting anything like he did last year and in Spring Training this year, and the Pirates need some more pop.