EDGEAI

MLBcontact quality barrel edge

20.8% barrel

Esmerlyn Valdez has barrelled 20.8% of his batted balls this season across 255 plate appearances — about 2.77x the league rate of 7.5%. His hard-hit rate is 48.3%. He's facing Matthew Liberatore, who has allowed 13 home runs in 70 innings this season — 1.67 per nine. A barrel is contact at the exit velocity and launch angle that produces home runs, so this measures the contact itself rather than the results it has produced so far.

Published Sunday, August 30, 2026

Esmerlyn Valdez has barrelled 20.8% of his batted balls this season across 255 plate appearances — about 2.77x the league rate of 7.5%. His hard-hit rate is 48.3%. He's facing Matthew Liberatore, who has allowed 13 home runs in 70 innings this season — 1.67 per nine. A barrel is contact at the exit velocity and launch angle that produces home runs, so this measures the contact itself rather than the results it has produced so far.

THE NUMBERS

angle
barrel_edge
player id
699013
player name
Esmerlyn Valdez
team
Pittsburgh Pirates
matchup
Pittsburgh Pirates vs St. Louis Cardinals
headline
20.8% barrel
barrel rate
20.8
hard hit rate
48.3
plate appearances
255
opposing pitcher
Matthew Liberatore
opposing pitcher hr9
1.67
detail
Esmerlyn Valdez has barrelled 20.8% of his batted balls this season across 255 plate appearances — about 2.77x the league rate of 7.5%. His hard-hit rate is 48.3%. He's facing Matthew Liberatore, who has allowed 13 home runs in 70 innings this season — 1.67 per nine. A barrel is contact at the exit velocity and launch angle that produces home runs, so this measures the contact itself rather than the results it has produced so far.

This record was written when the finding was first published and has not been edited since. The numbers and the wording are what our engines produced on the day.