{"id":1491,"date":"2026-05-25T07:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T07:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1491"},"modified":"2026-05-25T07:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T07:04:14","slug":"pirates-bullpen-makes-deal-hands-over-signed-bat-in-swap-for-rookie-outfielders-first-hr-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1491","title":{"rendered":"Pirates bullpen makes deal, hands over signed bat in swap for rookie outfielder’s first HR ball"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Pittsburgh Pirates\u2019 Esmerlyn Valdez (55) celebrates with teammate Endy Rodriguez (13) after scoring on his two-run home run, his first major league hit and first major league home run, during sixth inning MLB baseball action against the Toronto Blue Jays, in Toronto on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (Frank Gunn\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 What\u2019s the cost of a milestone home run ball? In this case, one signed bat from the rookie who hit the blast, and one official cap.<\/p>

Read more Daniel Suarez wins the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 after NASCAR honors the late Kyle Busch<\/a><\/p>\n

After Pittsburgh Pirates rookie outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez hit his first career home run in Sunday’s 4-1 win at Toronto<\/a> , his teammates in the bullpen went to work to get the ball back for him.<\/p>\n

Valdez was promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis on Friday and had gone 0 for 7 with five strikeouts before his two-run blast off Chase Lee in the sixth inning. The 345-foot drive landed in a standing-room section beyond the right field wall, where a fence separates fans from the visitor\u2019s bullpen.<\/p>

Read more Avalanche get defenseman Cale Makar back, survive scare with Nathan MacKinnon, and still lose Game 3<\/a><\/p>\n

The ball ended up in the hands of a young fan, who was soon in negotiations with Pirates reliever Justin Lawrence<\/a> . As talks progressed, the Pirates righty used hand signals to request a signed bat from the dugout.<\/p>\n

Valdez signed a bat and reliever Dennis Santana brought it out to the bullpen, then leaned around the fence to make the exchange.<\/p>

Read more Kerley runs 9.97 at Enhanced Games, where Kristian Gkolomeev gets a $1M bonus for swimming mark<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s the cost of a milestone home run ball<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nPirates bullpen makes deal, hands over signed bat in swap for rookie outfielder's first HR ball - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1491\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pirates bullpen makes deal, hands over signed bat in swap for rookie outfielder's first HR ball - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What\u2019s the cost of a milestone home run ball\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1491\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-25T07:04:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2c2779568a8fbe8efc58456a60b219fd-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Pirates bullpen makes deal, hands over signed bat in swap for rookie outfielder’s first HR ball\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-25T07:04:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491\"},\"wordCount\":296,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e45af16a234727550d0af0bb6327bd5c-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491\",\"name\":\"Pirates bullpen makes deal, hands over signed bat in swap for rookie outfielder's first HR ball - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e45af16a234727550d0af0bb6327bd5c-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-25T07:04:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1491#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e45af16a234727550d0af0bb6327bd5c-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e45af16a234727550d0af0bb6327bd5c-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Pittsburgh Pirates' Esmerlyn Valdez (55) celebrates with teammate Endy Rodriguez (13) after scoring on his two-run home run, his first major league hit and first major league home run, during sixth inning MLB baseball action against the Toronto Blue Jays, in Toronto on Sunday, May 24, 2026. 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