One of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ top position player prospects is with the team for the start of their series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, though he isn’t yet on the 26-man roster.

Catcher/first baseman Rafael Flores has been placed on the Pirates’ taxi squad, which could potentially signify an injury to a player on the club’s roster.

Flores hasn’t yet appeared in a big-league game this year and instead has remained in Triple-A Indianapolis, though it’s possible he’ll have a chance to make an impact for the Pirates in the near future.

Flores’ Background

Flores signed with the New York Yankees as an undrafted free agent in July 2022 for a signing bonus of $75,000.

He posted an .874 OPS with 21 home runs between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre during the 2024 campaign, putting him on the map as a legit prospect.

Flores was later used as the centerpiece of the trade deadline deal that saw the Pirates send All-Star closer David Bednar to the Yankees last year.

He slashed .281/.363/.459 with six home runs over 36 games for Indianapolis after arriving in the deal and made his major league debut for Pittsburgh on September 17, 2025.

Across seven contests and 17 plate appearances to close out the season, Flores logged a .627 OPS with a pair of doubles for the Pirates.

The 25-year-old has struggled quite heavily in Triple-A so far this year, however, owning a .207/.320/.344 slash line with four home runs and 27 RBIs in 53 games and 188 at-bats.

Flores was recently ranked as the No. 15 prospect in Pittsburgh’s farm system by FanGraphs.

“Flores has uncommon power for a catcher, and while aspects of his swing path (it’s long) and his tendency to chase make him likely to strike out a ton against big league pitching, if he can get to power in games anyway, he’ll do enough to be a valuable bat-first backup,” Eric Longenhagen wrote. “He’s best when he can get extended against pitches up and away from him, which he’s a threat to deposit from pole to pole. There are all kinds of late-bloomer traits here (Flores’ size, late arrival to catching this often, and small school background), and it’s possible that Flores will have a peak year or two where he hits 15-plus bombs as a part-time cacher and 1B/DH, just as there will probably also be years where he hits .180 and can’t control the run game.”

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The Pittsburgh Steelers signed veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen at the tail end of the 2025 NFL season amidst struggles at the position. Thielen had returned to the Minnesota Vikings in 2025, the team that drafted him for which he carved out a very respectable career before signing with the Carolina Panthers in 2023.

Thielen appeared in five regular season games with the Steelers, catching 11 passes. He joined Good Morning Football on Monday and was asked about his experience in Pittsburgh, to which he couldn’t say enough nice things.

“What an amazing experience,” Thielen said. “First of all, just to experience the Pittsburgh Steelers organization. it was so cool to see it first hand. You hear a lot about it, you play against it, but you don’t really understand it until you get in that building. You just feel the culture and just kind of see how it’s different. It’s a family-owned business and it’s got that family aspect to it that they’re always in the building, they’re always around – it’s a really cool place.”

Thielen then discussed his time with Aaron Rodgers, and praised the four-time MVP for his approach to the game.

“Being around Aaron, I’ve known him for a long time,” Thielen said. “Played a lot of golf with him, built a strong relationship with him outside of football. But to seem in the building and in practice and his communication and the way he does things and his detail, it really showed me why he’s been so great for so long. A lot of times… you just think, ‘Oh, they’re really skilled…‘ these guys are great and separate themselves because of their process. He treated every single practice like it was the Super Bowl. it was unbelievable to see first hand just how hard he practiced, what it meant to him, how much communication there was through the week of trying to get everybody on the same page – whether that be coaches or players. So it was really cool to see that first hand and get to know him on the football side of things.”

Thielen retired after the 2025 season, finishing his career with 704 catches for 8,497 yards and 64 touchdowns.

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