Rafael Flores Jr. was in the Pirates’ lineup at catcher on June 11, his second MLB start behind the plate and his first chance to work a series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers from the opening pitch. Pittsburgh batted him eighth, a sign the club was asking the newly recalled catcher to do more than just fill a hole.
Flores got the start one day after joining the Pirates, and the timing mattered because the team had little room left at the position. Henry Davis had gone on the paternity list on June 10, Endy Rodríguez had left the previous night’s 9-8 win over the Dodgers after the seventh inning and Joey Bart remained on the 10-day injured list, leaving Flores as the club’s sole healthy and available catcher on the 40-man roster.
That gave the Pirates a quick answer behind the plate in a game they could not afford to hand away. Flores’ first MLB start at catcher came in a 4-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on Sept. 23, 2025, and the June 11 assignment was only his second look there in the majors. It also marked his first MLB stint of the season after spending his previous time with Triple-A Indianapolis.
What Pittsburgh was betting on was less the bat than the body of work around it. Flores came up after hitting.207/.320/.324 with a.644 OPS in 53 games for Indianapolis, a line that included 39 hits in 188 at-bats, six doubles, two triples, four home runs, 27 RBI, 29 walks and 64 strikeouts. Those numbers had put him among the weakest offensive performers in the International League, but the Pirates needed a catcher more than they needed a clean stat line.
That is the trade-off now facing the club. Flores was acquired from the New York Yankees at the 2025 deadline in the deal that sent former All-Star closer David Bednar to New York, and the move already looks like a test of whether he can handle major league innings before his bat catches up. How long he stays with Pittsburgh will depend on when Davis returns and whether Rodríguez is ready to take back his own workload, but for June 11 the opportunity belonged to Flores alone.
